– Digicel CEO appointed to Board of Directors

THE Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Life Insurance Company (GTM) after-tax profit is $324.8M for 2018 as compared to $250.9M for 2017 which represents an increase of $73.8M or 29.45 per cent.

This was disclosed by Chairman of the Board of Directors, R. L. Singh, during the company’s presentation of the 139 Annual Report at its Annual General Meeting which was held Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Club.

The chairman also announced the appointment of certified accountant and CEO of Digicel, Gregory Dean, to the Board of Directors with effect from December, 1st, 2018.
In giving a review of the annual report, the Chairman said the total comprehensive income for the year, net of tax, increased from $976.8M to $2.236 billion as of December, 31, 2018. This, Singh said, is a direct result of the increase share prices of the company in which investments were made in Banks DIH limited and Republic Bank Guyana Limited.
He said the performance overview notwithstanding ongoing challenges, strong competition, rate selling, and sluggish economic conditions in the eastern Caribbean, GTM has recorded a growth in insurance premiums of $63.5M and $75.8M net of reinsurance premiums.

Further, of the $2.57 billion of gross insurance premiums, the Guyana operations contributed $1.6 billion or 64.5 per cent followed by Grenada with $456M or 17.6 per cent; St Lucia with $371M or 14.5 per cent and St Vincent and the Grenadines with $86M or 3.4 per cent.

“The reinsurance market remained soft, that is, there is excess capacity available when compared to demand, as a result, your company has been able to secure lower reinsurance premiums rate as is reflected in the lower reinsurance premiums paid in 2018 when compared to 2017,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said availability to viable medium and long-term investments remains elusive in Guyana and owes subscriptions to bonds and treasure-bills in the eastern Caribbean.

He explained that excess liquidity in the financial systems have driven down returns for these types of investments which limits the company’s ability to increase its investment portfolio.

The Chairperson said that there are other investment options; however, prudence dictates that these should be avoided and GTM is cognizant of the need to seek out lucrative investments and will do so once reassured that such is in the best interest of the company.
He said GTM owns millions of shares in a number of blue-chip companies in Guyana and has benefitted substantially from recent increases in share values.

“The company has every intention of holding these shares into the foreseeable future and will seek to acquire more when they become available,” the Chairman said.
During the year 2018, he said GTM wrote new business amounting to $46 billion with an annualized premium of $175M, representing an increase of 39 per cent and 13 per cent respectively when compared to 2017.

At the end of the year, he said the total business amounted to $397 billion with sums insured and an annualize premium of $1.8 billion.
Gross revenue on Motor Insurance, he said, totalled $1.426 billion at the end of 2018 when compared with $1.104 billion for 2017, in such a competitive market a marginal increase is noteworthy.

At the end of the financial year, he said claims amounted to $637M when compared to $666M in 2017, a reduction of four per cent.

“Your company continues to engage in prudent underwriting and claims management to ensure, attract and retain business,” he said.

When looking at the cash and profit, he announced the company will be making a declaration of cash-profit return of 50 per cent of premium on profit policies.
As of December 31, 2018, he said GTM asset base grew by $2.17 billion to $9.96 billion, representing a growth of 28 per cent over the previous financial year which was as a result of increases in share prices of local companies in which GTM invested.
Additionally, 13 children of GTM staff benefitted from bursaries while several staff members were awarded for their contributions.