Janashakthi Insurance clarifies its stance

16 July 2015 03:23 am

We write with reference to the article which was published in Mirror Business on July 15, 2015 titled ‘Janashakthi opposes regulatory exemptions given to foreign insurers’. This headline is misleading as neither the Chairman nor the Managing Director who are quoted made a comment of this nature.

Janashakthi as a matter of principle does not oppose regulations and endeavours to cooperate and assist the regulator in the regulatory process. 

The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) has always discussed regulations with the members of the industry, before they pass regulations and Janashakthi has been part of these discussions as a member of the Insurance Association of Sri Lanka. 

The Insurance Amendment Act No 3 of 2011, under section 15 (A) requires every insurer to list on the Colombo Stock Exchange within three years of being issued with a licence. We welcome this as it facilitates greater transparency and investor protection as well as stability. 

Our Chairman in his Chairman’s report dated February 25, 2015 has expressed the hope that “this policy would create a level-playing field by making the requirement mandatory across the board i.e. also encompassing those insurers which are subsidiaries of international companies.” This quote was taken out of context which leaves a misleading impression. 

The quote in your newspaper is based on an extract from the 2014 Annual Report which was published in early March 2015. 

There is currently no regulation in place to grant exemptions to foreign and local insurers, as was mentioned in the article and Janashakthi cannot therefore oppose regulations which have not been enacted.