Union Assurance PLC is an insurance company in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Union Assurance was founded in 1987 and was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in the following year. In 2009, John Keells Holdings acquired a controlling stake in the company. The company divested its general insurance business to Fairfirst Insurance and focused on life insurance in 2015. The company was a constituent of Forbes Asia's ''Best Under a Billion'' list in 2018. Union Assurance is one of the ''LMD'' 100 companies in Sri Lanka. The company is also one of the 100 most valuable brands in Sri Lanka.

History

Union Assurance was founded in 1987 by

Aitken Spence Aitken Spence PLC (; ) is a Sri Lankan Blue chip (stock market), blue chip Conglomerate (company), conglomerate with operations in South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Pacific. Listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1983, it has major interest ...

, Carson Cumberbatch, Mercantile Credit and Whittall Boustead. The company commenced operations and was listed on the

Colombo Stock Exchange The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) (; ) is the main stock exchange in Sri Lanka that utilizes an electronic trading platform. The CSE headquarters have been located at the World Trade Center (Colombo) Towers in Colombo since 1995, and it has regi ...

in the following year. Union Assurance entered the market when the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital o ...

ended the

government monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopo ...

of the insurance sector with the enactment of the Control of Insurance Act No. 42 of 1986. Sri Lankan conglomerate

John Keells Holdings John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) is a Sri Lankan multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate company. It has business interests in hotels and resorts management, port, marine fuel and logistics services, IT services, manufacturing of food a ...

acquired 81% shares in Union Assurance in 2009 thus giving them control of the company. Union Assurance divided its

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

and non-life businesses in 2015, and divested its stake in the non-life insurance business to Fairfirst Insurance. Union Assurance held 8.7% of insurance sector assets in 2016, making them the fourth biggest player behind

Sri Lanka Insurance Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited, also known as Sri Lanka Insurance is the largest and strongest composite insurance provider in Sri Lanka. It is the first and only insurance company in Sri Lanka to be assigned a prime AAA− rating for In ...

Ceylinco Insurance Ceylinco Holdings PLC is the largest private sector insurance company in Sri Lanka. The company is also engaged in the education and renewable energy sectors. The company offers both life insurance and all classes of general insurance. The company ...

and AIA Insurance. In 2018, Union Assurance was included in

Forbes Asia ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

's ''Best Under a Billion'' list. The company was the only Sri Lankan company on the list that year. The company introduced its new logo in 2020, which emphasises the company's repositioning in the life insurance sector.

Operations

Union Assurance is ranked 54th in ''LMD'' 100, an annual list of publicly traded companies in Sri Lanka ranked by revenue, in its 2020/21 edition. Union Assurance is placed 51st amongst the most valuable brands in Sri Lanka. The brand value grew by 10.5% in 2022 to LKR1,982 million according to Brand Finance. Union Assurance provides

bancassurance Bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company that is aimed at offering insurance products or insurance benefits to the bank's customers. In this partnership, bank staff and tellers become the point of sale and point o ...

in collaboration with several banks in Sri Lanka. Market research conducted by the company revealed low levels of saving patterns among Sri Lankans. The study revealed that Sri Lankans fall behind recommended 10%-15% of gross salary savings. A quarter of the population had no savings while 37% saved between 1%-5% of their income. The company appointed Jude Gomes as the chief executive officer in 2019. At the time of his appointment Gomes was the chairman and CEO of Manulife China Bank Life Assurance Corporation in the Philippines. Union Assurance won an award at the 2022 Women Friendly Workplace Awards.

Finances

Source: Annual Report, 2023 (pp. 300–301)

References

External links

Official website
{{All Share Price Index 1987 establishments in Sri Lanka Financial services companies established in 1987 Companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange Insurance companies of Sri Lanka

History

Operations

Finances

See also

References

External links