Growth & Jobs | JN Life grows share of pensions market in 2025

JN Life Insurance Company Limited strengthened its share of the pensions market at the end of its financial year December 2025, while its performance across its other business lines showed resilience despite the effects of Hurricane Melissa in the fourth quarter.

Delivering remarks at the company’s ‘Life Stars’ staff awards for 2025 at the Terra Nova Hotel recently, managing director, Hugh Reid noted that the company performed well and remains focused on the future as it moves into its “teenage years”, reflecting on the company’s 13-year journey.

“We are committed to growing JN Life and becoming the number one company in the JN Group,’ he said, highlighting the company’s dedication to excellence, innovation and client value, while crediting the company’s overall success last year also to the support received from broker partners, the JN Group and its other member companies.

While continuing to expand across all three focus areas- individual life, group life and its pension business, Othneil Blagrove, chief- sales and marketing, explained that JN Life delivered a record-breaking performance in 2025 through the JN Individual Retirement Scheme, setting a new milestone for the company in pension contributions.

“2023 was the last time we set a record for pension contributions from our sales team, reaching J$68 million through both transfers and regular enrolments. In 2025, that record was shattered, with contributions reaching a remarkable J$89.7 million,” he outlined.

Blagrove noted that this achievement represents more than 200 per cent growth in market share within the local industry.

“That’s no small feat,” he emphasised.

He also revealed that seven agents, including two part-time agents, qualified for the Million Dollar Roundtable (MDRT) in 2025. The MDRT is the premier worldwide association of financial and insurance professionals, with entry reserved for the top six to 10 per cent of professionals in the global industry.

He noted that the company was able to achieve MDRT qualifiers despite the various challenges, including the increase in the benchmark set by the MDRT.

The number of MDRT qualifiers for 2025 equals the company’s numbers for 2024. The 2025 MDRT qualifiers, Jellena Sutherland, Winsome Atkinson, Deon Graveney, Shanalee Givans, Sanya Malcolm, Tiffany Lyn and Gayon Knight, will be attending the 2026 Annual MDRT International Conference at the Anaheim Convention Centre in California, United States of America in June.

“Based on what I see and what the results show, we are moving in the right direction,” Blagrove said, while commending the employees and teams for their hard work throughout the year.

Acknowledging that it had been a challenging year for the company, further compounded by the impact of the late-season category five hurricane, he said, “In a normal year, for the insurance industry, you typically want to deliver your best in the last quarter. But in 2025, we faced Hurricane Melissa. However, it wasn’t all about Melissa, but how we responded and thanks to the resilience, dedication and hard work of our team, we were able to finish 2025 on a strong note.”

“The best is yet to come. 2025 proved what we are made of but 2026 will prove how far we can go,” he added.

Earl Jarrett, chief executive officer of The Jamaica National Group, also commended the company on its 2025 performance, noting that “we’re well along the way to ensure that JN Life’s growth takes place in a controlled way.”

Reflecting on the genesis of the company, he said its future looks promising, with efforts already under way to secure further growth, including investments in digital technology for the transformation of the business’ operations.