Ten ways to thrive as an international life company
By Mark Battersby, 3 Nov 15
In the latest in a series of viewpoints from prominent life industry figures, Sean Christian, executive director – offshore of Canada Life International, sets out what it takes to thrive as an international life office.
It can be seen that successful life companies are increasingly expected to offer a wide range of value-added services to the market. Some of the services are relatively expensive to deliver, for example, providing strong technical support, maintaining a wider product range or offering products into the same market from multiple jurisdictions. Striking a balance between providing the right level of affordable support and service whilst achieving an appropriate level of return on investment can be a challenge for some life companies, especially those relatively new to the market without large back-books of business.
Detailed due diligence exercises are no longer just pre-requisites for doing business with institutional advisory firms. Advisers from all segments of the market are increasingly seeking independent analysis of a life company’s profitability, solvency, ownership, parental support and commitment to the market. Successful life companies are able to demonstrate a strong track record of delivering a profitable return on investment. Companies in this situation, self-financing and not requiring parental capital injections, are far more likely to remain core to their shareholders’ long term strategy and are therefore more likely to still be serving advisers and their clients in decades to come.
Tags: Canada Life | Sean Christian
