Paul Lalor, president of the Insurance Company of the West Indies.

Sabrina Gordon, Business Writer

The Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI) has relocated its Spanish Town branch to the highly trafficked Angels Estate Plaza, saying it would give the operation more visibility.

"The branch in Spanish Town was not having the significant growth we would have liked," said Paul Lalor, president of ICWI.

"Angels Estate is strategi-cally located. The flow of traffic passing by is ever increasing and lends itself to excellent visibility and great convenience to many of our customers," he said.

Angels, which was developed in phases by the National Housing Trust, has, over the years, become a thriving middle-income community.

Spanish Town, in the meantime, has become highly volatile and insecure because of gang violence, murder and extortion.

The result is that businesses have been retreating from the historic St Catherine capital.

Angels growing

Said Lalor of Angels: "It is in the midst of large housing developments and colleges and the communities in and around Angels are growing. It also offers a safe environment, not only for our clients to visit, but for our employees to work from."

Prior to its relocation, the branch operated at Wellington Street in Spanish Town for five years.

The move was a $14-million investment for ICWI - approximately $12 million for the purchase of the shop at Angels Plaza and $2 million to set up the office.

The company expects the Angels branch to generate at least five per cent of the total premium income of its Jamaican operations.

"As time passes and our presence becomes known to the residents in the area, we are anticipating growth," Lalor said.

ICWI operates in Jamaica, Cayman, The Bahamas and The Netherlands Antilles. In Jamaica, there are 16 branches and 22 marketing agents throughout the island.

The company has total assets of $2.5 billion and lays claim to eight per cent of the general-insurance market, which comprises a total of 11 firms.

At the end of December 2007, ICWI's gross premium income amounted to $1.7 billion, a 13 per cent increase over the $1.5 billion earned at the end of December 2006.

"Our projected growth for the company is 20 per cent above our 2007 year-end figure," said Lalor.

The general-insurance industry is currently valued at approximately $21.8 billion in terms of gross premium income.

Grow amount of business

ICWI has no immediate plans to expand its branch network locally but says its objective over the coming years is to grow the amount of business coming through the existing branches.

The Angels Estate branch opened in late September and has a staff complement of six. It is a full-ser-vice branch offering a range of general-insurance products such as motor, property, personal accident, and commercial insurance.

The branch is to open on Saturdays by January 2009, and is being positioned as the regional centre for ICWI's other St Catherine storefront operations spread across Portmore, Old Harbour and Linstead.

"Having moved into Angels, we have been encouraged by the fact that this Spanish Town branch recorded its best month in terms of new business in its five years in only the second month at this new location," said Lalor.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com