The Maison La Rosière building which houses H. Savy Insurance offices

H. Savy Insurance Co. Ltd has announced that it has started to offer Life insurance as part of its continuous efforts to better meet the requirements of its clients.

The insurance company was previously offering only general business policies such as Fire and Motor policies.

The decision to enter the Life insurance market was prompted by strong demand from the company's present client base and forms part of the company's broader strategy to attain market leadership through continuous improvement in service quality and in the launching of new products, according to a press communiqué from the firm.

In the initial phase of its Life insurance marketing strategy, the company is offering four basic products, namely junior education policy with profits, endowment assurance policy with profits, special endowment policy with various plans and mortgage protection policy without profits.

However, each of these products incorporates some unique selling propositions (USPs), designed to meet the specific requirements of clients and unmatched by any other insurance services being offered at the moment.  For example, a common feature of several of the insurance company's products is to incorporate Total Permanent Disability (TPD) as additional benefit at no additional premium.

So far, the company has been selling its Life products exclusively from its offices at Maison La Rosière in Victoria, following the creation of a new Life Department. The press communiqué reveals that as in-house staff gain experience in all aspects of the operations, the company intends to broaden its sales network to include brokers and agents.

The creation of the department itself is a culmination of extensive market research and a case study done in regional technical collaboration, drawing expertise from Mauritius, South Africa, Nigeria and India.

Despite the tight competition in the insurance market, the company has adopted a customer-friendly approach, encouraging close interaction with clients at the point of sales. The firm says it will also strive to maintain a high level of after sale services. It is for this very reason, the press communiqué says, that the company has set itself modest business targets in its inaugural year. The company says it will continue to monitor market trends in the months ahead with the aim of improving its product range.

Depending on client demand, variations in existing products will be made and new policies are to be planned at periodic intervals in the next five years.

H. Savy Insurance first broached the subject of offering Life insurance as early as 1996, barely one year after it had begun operations. However, in order not to stretch management resources, the board of the company decided to postpone the project until such time that its general insurance operations were fully established in the market.

Says the press communiqué: "Seven years later, after attaining market leadership in the private general insurance sector, and with an unblemished record of solid profitability, the company is now well placed to start Life operations as the next phase in its corporate development."

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