Assuria Group director: TT possesses growth opportunities

Assuria Insurances, a member of the Assuria Group, took over two Trinidadian companies - Gulf Insurance Ltd in April 2013 and Mega Insurance Company Limited in 2015.

The Assuria Group is a holding company comprising five operating companies: a life insurance company, a general insurance company, a medical insurance company and two investment companies, the first of which invests in the international capital market and the second in Surinamese companies.

Speaking to reporters following the re-opening of Gulf Insurance’s San Fernando branch, Assuria Group commercial director, Mario Merhai, stated that an assessment had been undertaken by the Group before making its investments in 2013.

“From the moment we decided that we would invest in the Trinidad and Tobago market, that in itself was a sign of confidence because we access the current state of the market and the future developments,” Merhai said.

“We know that the Caribbean as a whole are suffering from economic difficulties but our philosophy is that those difficulties should not discourage you,” he said, adding, “I think this is a show of confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago market, we still believe there is growth opportunity here and there is also need from customers for a different type of insurance.” “We think that operating in the Caribbean creates a more stable operation if you take your operation outside your country and try to diversify regionally, that’s why we looked at Guyana and we looked at Trinidad and Tobago. Gulf itself does not only operate in Trinidad so the position of Gulf gave us the opportunity to acquire business in other Caribbean countries as well which, in our view, diversifies the financial base and the consumer base and the growth base of the company and we will continue looking for good opportunities in the Caribbean primarily and not necessarily only in the Caribbean,” he said.

In full agreement was Gulf Insurance managing director, Jason Clarke, who pointed out that most economies experienced “peaks and valleys” and the company was “strengthening” itself for the coming economic peak.

“You will end up ascending back to where you were before so what we are doing is putting our house in order, re-strengthening our foundations so when that time comes, when the economy starts to go back in the ascension, we are right there to hopefully reap some of the benefits,” Clarke said.

He said the completely redesigned offices were to ensure that the company offered a world class environment for both its staff and customers.

“What we are look- ing to do is reorganise the organisation in a way that is world class, our theme is world class and we also want to ensure that your staff is always offering world class services now for us to do that you have to make sure that they are in an environment that is comfortable, warm, welcoming, accommodating,” he said, adding, “if you have a happy employee, you should have a happy customer and that is one of the elements.”