Previous Story
Local insurance firm gets boost
|
Posted on Jul 19 1999
After one year of negotiation, Australian-owned Family Assurance will now provide reinsurance support to Oceania Insurance Corp., allowing the local company to give its clients a wider range of products.
According to Ross Porter, managing director of Family Assurance, the company’s decision to seek a local partner was based on its confidence in the management of Oceania and the CNMI economy.
Porter met with Commerce Secretary Frankie Villanueva last week to inform him of the reinsurance service that Family Assurance will be giving to Oceania. This brings to three the total number of companies with a reinsurance support.
“I have no doubts at all that the CNMI will be able to recover from this crisis. There is just so much room for growth and we have found committed people we can trust,” said Porter.
Family Assurance acquired the Australian operation of AFLAC Ltd. on Nov. 8, 1990, and has since then expanded its business on the Solomon Islands, Republic of Vanuatu, Fiji, Western Samoa and Tonga.
Family Assurance has a total of 70 employees and last year hauled $22 million in premium payments. It has moved from a single product (cancer insurance) to a multi line niche general insurer.
C.A. Jun Pendon Jr., vice president and general manager of Oceania, said he was satisfied with the variety of products offered by Family Assurance which he believes would interest a lot of people.
Asked if the insurance business is already crowded with too many players, Pendon said he does not think so. “Insurance is about sales and sales is about people. The people will look for a company that they will trust,” he said.
