'Market still has considerable scope of growth': An interview with MD & CEO Jubilee Life Insurance Company

Javed Ahmed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jubilee Life Insurance Company, is known for his professional and human skills. Under his dynamic leadership, Jubilee Life has emerged as the leading private sector insurer in Pakistan. Jubilee Life is known for many pioneering endeavours in the country such as Bancassurance, credit life insurance, and Microinsurance.
BR: Give us a broad overview of the life insurance industry?
JA: Life companies have worked very hard in developing their retail channels and as a result, retail business has grown significantly in the last few years. In spite of the fact that life insurance sector has grown at a reasonable pace in the past few years,life insurance penetration stands at around 0.45% of GDP in Pakistan, which is very low as compared to countries like India and Indonesia. However, low level of penetration gives a huge opportunity for all the players to accelerate their endeavours in providing financial protection to the Pakistani population.
BR: What have been the growth trends in the private sector life insurance industry and your company?
JA: Over the past 5 years, Gross Written Premiums for the private sector listed life insurance companies has grown at an annualised rate of 27%, to Rs 42.8 billion in 2014. On a comparable basis, JLP's top-line has increased at an annualised rate of 39% and stood atRs 21.8 billion in 2014 which translates in to a market share of 51%.
BR: What is Jubilee Life's strategy to penetrate in different customer segments?
JA: The essence of our brand is "Live Free" and we do not limit our brand to any particular segment. Our product and distribution philosophy also reflects this. We realise that people belonging to various lifestyles and backgrounds have varying needs, preferences and affordability. From affluent class to the middle-income to the less-privileged segments, our product range offers specific solutions designed to cater to the particular needs of each segment. To make these products available to the right segment we use distinct distribution channels for each segment.
BR: What are the key opportunities and challenges?
JA: Unstable political, economic and social environment remains a key challenge for the life industry.Also, unpredictable and severe power load shedding has significantly affected growth in manufacturing and other business sectors, which has adversely impacted the growth in group insurance business.
However, given the fact that life insurance penetration in relation to GDP is still very low, the market still has considerable scope of growth.
BR: What steps should the regulators and the industry take to boost the sector?
JA: The regulator has been very active during the last few years and many new regulations and guidelines have been introduced.The SECP had proposed a roadmap of reformand development for the country's insurance industry last year. The roadmap is quite comprehensive and identifies the potential reform areas as regulatory reforms, operation challenges in life and non-life insurance, market development issues, insurance education and awareness and technology development. Success in implementing this roadmap will largely depend on collective and focused efforts at every level.
Owing to multiple reasons, the perception of life insurance sector is not positive within Pakistan. There is a need to change the perception of the sector to a more positive one. Companies have to work very hard to build their images and to improve their services. As you can see now all the companies have websites, policy portals, SMS services and call centers and adopting every possible way to engage with their customers. This has started to change the perceptions and I think this will definitely help the industry in the longer run.
BR: Takaful is a new name in the domestic market. Do you plan to target this segment?
JA: Takaful is not so new to this market. Dedicated family Takaful operators have been providing family Takaful products for the last 8 years. However, share of family Takaful remains very low in the overall life insurance market. The approval of Takaful Window operations in Pakistan for conventional insurers will have far reaching impact on insurance sector. Leveraging on their larger marketing base and distribution networks, window Takaful operations by conventional companies will act as catalyst to growth and development of family Takaful.
Jubilee Life is considering entering Family Takaful market through a window operations. It is likely to take couple of months to materialise.
BR: Tell us more about Microinsurance?
JA: We began Microinsurance in 2003 and extended our products offering by commencing Micro health insurance in 2008. At present, we have around 1.75 million lives insured, including micro life and health. Jubilee Life's key theme in Microinsurance product design and distribution strategy is aimed at improving the quality of life of customers and to contribute towards the uplift and welfare of the less-privileged segments of the society.The SECP introduced the Microinsurance regulations in 2014, which is very positive development. The Essence of Microinsurance Regulations is to provide customer protection. By ensuring customer protection, the new Microinsurance regulations will facilitate building customer confidence. This would lead to increasing the financial protection to the Pakistani population at large.
BR: What are your future plans?
JA: Our initiatives hinge on our vision of "enabling people to overcome uncertainty". May it be value of customers' money in terms of financial security and investment returns, or superior customer services, we endeavour to be the best choice for the customers for overcoming their uncertainties. Being the leading life insurance provider, we have an unwavering focus on innovating and improving our services to deliver the best overall experience to our customers. We have been continuously growing at pace higher than the industry's average growth and for us, sky is the limit!