William Craig, CEO of Billy Craig Insurance Brokers, based in Montego Bay, St James. - Contributed

Insurance companies are pulling out all the stops to rake in new business as the sector continues to feel the pinch from the prevailing tight economic situation facing their potential clients. In all of this, Montego Bay-based Billy Craig Insurance Brokers (BCIB) says it will not be left behind and expects to grow its business 25 per cent by year end with the launch of new products.

"The company plans to offer new products and services in the coming year," William Craig, the company's chief executive officer, said this week.

"Right now, we are working on one. It is a liability product and we will have more on that later in the year."

Billy Craig's new product deve-lopments will focus on indemnity from third-party losses, the company is reporting.

Aggressive marketing

Already, the 46-year-old insurance brokerage, operating predominantly in the general insurance market, has developed its first health-insurance plan, targeted, it says, at employees within chamber of commerce member businesses.

"Our employee benefits division team created the product and partnered with Sagicor, which was happy to come on board as under-writers and Billy Craig Insurance Brokers is now aggressively mar-keting its exclusive health-benefits policy to chambers of commerce members islandwide," Craig said.

"We expect $50-million premium income in the first 18 months of being on the market," he said.

In fact, six clients are already signed on to the plan, which covers doctor's, dietician and nutritionist visits, among other things.

Largest growth area

Craig estimates that the chambers of commerce represent a captive market of about 100,000 lives.

Billy Craig Insurance Brokers currently does 70 per cent of its business through corporate offices, with annual premium income topping $1.2 billion.

"This has been BCIB's largest growth area over the past couple of years, with some 54 per cent growth in the past year alone," Craig told the Financial Gleaner.

"We have been growing it by assertively structuring new products for the marketplace such as the chamber of commerce plan," he noted, adding that the plan is its first health product designed for mass marketing.

Groundbreaking products

Two years ago, BCIB launched another product, Apple, a comprehensive business protection package covering accidental damage, cash on property and in transit, and burglary.

The firm has had, for some time, an insurance product for jewellery merchants and a liability product covering trustees of pension funds.

Billy Craig Insurance was recently appointed as Jamaica agent for the insurance outfit, Island Heritage.

"We have become their principal representative in Jamaica to facilitate them, as they are a Cayman-based company," said Craig.

BCIB currently employs 43 persons across its three offices located in Kingston and Montego Bay and boasts assets of over $400 million and a capital base in excess of $80 million.

BCIB is one of 30 insurance brokers operating in the Jamaican market.