ICWI enters BVI market

The Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI) has announced a partnership with Alphonso Warner Insurance Agency in a bid to snatch part of the US$45 million (J$3.9 billion) British Virgin Islands (BVI) market.

ICWI now operates in six regional territories.

"The general insurance market in the British Virgin Islands generates premium income of around US$45 million a year and, as such, there is a good opportunity for us to grow our revenue base," said Samantha Samuda, assistant vice-president, marketing and distribution at ICWI.

ICWI will not open a physical office but promote products and services through its new partner, the general insurer said.

"Alphonso Warner Insurance Agency will market our products on a commission basis similar to the way in which brokers and agents operate in the Jamaican market," said Samuda.

She added that ICWI would "transplant" the Jamaican products to the BVI market, including The Road Angel policy, which offers special discounts and benefits to female drivers, Accident Forgiveness, Uninsured Motorist coverage, the Family Pak policy which is bundled home and motor policy, as well as the robust A-Plus Household policy.

President of ICWI Paul Lalor said in a company statement that the partnership would allow his company to at best double the reinsurance protection offered on sums insured, when compared with rival companies in that Caribbean territory.

Lalor said rival companies in the Eastern Caribbean are usually "content with 10 to 20 per cent reinsurance protection on their total sums insured" in the event of a catastrophe, but that ICWI "prides itself on having overall reinsurance protection of as high as 47 per cent", thereby guaranteeing efficient settlement of claims from catastrophes.

"Notwithstanding the increased reinsurance protection, the cost to their customers remains unaffected and they remain extremely competitive," the company release added.

Alphonso Warner Insurance Agency has been providing insurance services for Road Town, Tortola and the surrounding area for 35 years.

The ICWI Group started operations in the 1960s and currently has offices in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, St Maarten and St Kitts, and Turks & Caicos. The group provides motor and property insurance.

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