Insurance
Insurance
It’s Antillean Time
Developed and pushed further by son and
heir Kennie John.
And now opening the way for the third
generation of the John family to participate -
present CEO Kennie John, is optimistic that
his son will too, get involved in the family
business and help push the fledgling Antillean
Group to become a regional Life Insurance
power house.
Antillean formerly known as NEWIM
recently went through a re-branding
exercise
Kennie explains “Companies, just
like houses need solid infrastructure,
So if you have a one story house and
you want to extend it, sometimes
the structure cannot take another
level, so we had to rebuild the
company structures.
Our growth strategy is to become
more prevalent in the Eastern
Caribbean.
The way we were set up could
not support that but now we can.
The new name came about from
looking at the region. “Antilles”
is an old name that describes
the region and is also we feel
very palatable (Lesser Antilles /
Greater Antilles). When we did our
research everyone had heard about
the Antilles and knew it was a part of
our history.
So we chose the region as our identity hence
Antillean struck a real chord with us. A wholesale Insurance product is referred to
as a “Treaty” and a retail product is a “Policy”.
Kennie’s path into the business was a
Business Studies degree, becoming a member
of the Chartered Insurance institute, and
then working in the market in London as a
reinsurance broker to hone his skills. “We have to be aware of what our wholesale
mix is to make sure we are covered” John
continues
He recalls “On the business level my first
true professional job was at the reinsurance
“
Our growth strategy
is to become more
prevalent in the
Eastern Caribbean
“
F
ormed by the highly decorated and
awarded, local insurance “Super Agent”
Chester John.
level, after years being in the business, I then
learned commercial Insurance which is what I
do here, but its all linked…if you understand
Actuarial Science and re-insurance, it all
sets the level and tone of what happens right
through to selling to the consumer.
But what actually is Actuarial Science?
According to Wikipedia : Actuarial Science is
the discipline that applies mathematical
and statistical methods to assess risk in
insurance, finance and other industries and
professions. Actuaries are professionals who
are qualified in this field through intense
education and application of mathematical
modeling and experience.
Initial studies have shown that not many
people have actually studied Actuarial Sciences
here in Grenada but it is a key asset to have
according to Kennie John, as it enables one
to look at their portfolio and restructure their
business to support the facts.
“A company may have more exposure to
commercial business which represents
high value from few clients” or conversely,
“Residential homeowners coverage may
represent many clients but with lower values,
so we have to be aware of what our ins mix is
so we can buy enough coverage.
The interesting aspect is that in buying a
treaty it is not just one insurer. There are
many insurers who may buy for instance a
10%, a 20% an 18% that all combine to make
the 100% required coverage. So we deal with a
lot of insurers. And obviously have to deal with
the international Brokers who work with us to
get the best deals for our particular needs.
At a company level like Antillean, I work with
International brokers and supply them with
quarterly figures of :-
1. Aggregates i.e the total quantity and sum
of all buildings
2. The premiums and
3. The rates
Those 3 things decide whether or not you are
a good client for them. The re-insurers will
likely run modeling programs and algorithms
to determine how risk averse you are and if
you fit in with their underwriting guidelines.
It takes years in a relationship with them to
build the mutual trust.
1. What they do to cover or secure you
(Guardian / Prudential etc) or “Structuring your re-insurance program on
modeling that sees where your exposure lies
and whats at risk, so that you as a company,
are covered, is a key component of the
industry, and where Actuarial Sciences are
applied“ adds Kennie. “In Insurance terms, The Caribbean as a
region is small, however it does have one of
the most expensive reinsurance phenomenas
in the world because of our wind exposure.
so geographically, yes, we in Grenada are
probably at less risk than our neighbors in the
north but we are judged as a region and not
individual jurisdictions.
2. The region they are from
(Nationwide, AIG etc) In short, Insurance companies at our level,
buy wholesale insurance to sell retail. The need for reform in the industry is viewed
however as a major priority. Whilst we are
Most Insurance companies chose
their name based on either:-
PHOTO BY STEVE BRETT
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