Sri Lanka's Laugfs shoppers to get insurance cover from Chartis

June 14, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Laugfs Holdings, which has interests in cooking gas distribution and retailing has tied up with US based Chartis Insurance, to offer accident and disability cover to customers who patronise their supermarkets, officials said.

 Customers who ring-up a minimum bill of 1,500 rupees are entitled to an insurance cover worth 50,000 rupees or a gift voucher to shop at Laugfs supermarkets.

 Laugfs chief, W H K Wegapitiya said the deal moves away from the conventional loyalty card programmes, but focuses on creating a customer base that is rewarded meaningfully.

"Our aim is to create some value, " Wegapitiya told reporters on Wednesday. "Life insurance cover still remains in the hands of a selected few. Under our scheme, the customer and his immediate family benefit from the insurance policy

Limited to customers between the ages of 18-70, the policy covers accidents, permanent disability by accidents or death.

A single shopping basket worth 2,500 rupees, entitles customers to a 100,000 rupee insurance cover or a gift voucher to any of the 25 supermarkets.

Chartis, a leading property-casualty and general insurance firm serving more than 70 million clients around the world, said it’s the first tie-up with a supermarket chain in the world.

 "We offer similar policies with motor dealers, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) customers and tailor make them to suit each business," said Thushan Gunawardena, Head of Accident and Health, Chartis.

The overall gross written premiums for Sri Lanka’s 22-player insurance industry grew by 18.5 percent in 2011 to 78.5 billion rupees, according to the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka.

But insurance penetration still remains around 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million people.

Wegapitiya, hopes to extend the insurance cover to their other subsidiaries like vehicle emission testing (Laugfs Eco Shri) and liquefied petroleum gas (Laugfs Gas) in the coming months.

New York-based Chartis is currently one of the leading travel insurance providers in Sri Lanka, writing some one million dollars worth of premiums a year, Gunawardena said.

"Sri Lanka’s travel insurance market is growing at around 20 percent and is worth about 1.5 million dollars at present," he added.

source - www.lbo.lk