News – Global Business Counselling

Conduct Risk training to promote TCF principles launched by Ceylinco Life

Global Business Counselling (GBC) and TCF Consulting UK have been engaged by Ceylinco Life Insurance, Sri Lanka’s largest life insurer, to conduct special training programmes on Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), also termed ‘Conduct Risk’ in the financial services industry.

The life insurance market leader recently concluded training programme conducted by Global Business Counselling (GBC) Singapore & Sri Lanka and TCF Consulting in association with the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute (SLII).

The company said this programme was designed to provide senior management of Ceylinco Life an appraisal of the concept of Conduct Risk to develop a comprehensive understanding of the principles of fair treatment, and to produce a plan to transfer the learning into the company.

“There is increased emphasis globally on the TCF concept after the global financial crisis,” Ceylinco Life Managing Director/CEO Mr R. Renganathan said. “Although Ceylinco Life is the most trusted and acclaimed life insurance company in Sri Lanka, we believe it is imperative that we are constantly vigilant to ensure that we conform to or exceed international and local best practices.”

He disclosed that in recent months, the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) – the sector regulator – has also demonstrated its commitment to the promotion of fair treatment of customers and has issued guidelines on Complaints Handling by Insurers and Brokers; Good Practices in Conducting Inquiries on Insurance Agents; and Guidelines on Conducting Investigations on Insurance Claims.

The training programme was conducted by Messrs Chandri Gunawardena, the Founding CEO of Global Business Counselling and (GBC) and Stephen Rosling, Director of TCF Consulting. Mr Gunawardena has over 25 years of experience in legal, regulation and Governance, Risk & Compliance in the financial services and tobacco sector. He was the Director General of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL), the Regional Head of Regulatory Affairs for Asia Pacific at British American Tobacco and Head of Insurance practice at the law firm Julius & Creasy.

TCF Consulting is a training and consultancy firm specialising in the audit and implementation of “Conduct Risk” regulations relating to “Treating Customers Fairly” (TCF) principles, and Mr Rosling has worked in the UK financial services sector for over 30 years, holding senior customer management positions in Aviva, Friends Life, and Friends Provident International.

Ceylinco Life commenced operations in January 1988 and has been the market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for 13 consecutive years since 2004. The company has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as the benchmark for innovation in the local insurance industry for its work in product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.

The Future Predicted: GrayMatter & Global Business Counselling Present Challenges & Opportunities in Insurance and Analytics

GrayMatter Software Services and Global Business Counselling (GBC) jointly conducted an exclusive Event for key executives from the insurance industry at the Hilton Colombo Residences, in Sri Lanka. The attendees were C-Suite officers and senior IT/PMO personnel from Top Tier Insurance companies in Sri Lanka, such as AIA, Amana Takaful, Janashakthi, Union Assurance, FairFirst, HNB Assurance, NITF and the Leadership Teams of the Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (IASL) and the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute (SLII).

As expected, the event turned out to be an opportunity for an interactive exchange of rich insights and valuable knowledge between a distinguished set of industry veterans. Experts from GrayMatter presented insights on new trends in the insurance industry including mobility, big data, analytics, IoT, social media, usage based pricing, gamification of process, peer-peer insurance, cyber insurance.

The occasion was also an opportunity to raise a toast to the successful implementation of Insurance Analytics (IA+) solution at AIA Sri Lanka and Amana Takaful Sri Lanka as well as to celebrate the fruitful business partnership between GrayMatter and Global Business Counselling.

During the event Mr. Fazal Ghaffoor, CEO, Amana Takaful, shared his thoughts on the IA+ implementation, referring to the initiative as “transformational” and stating that “It has been a great enabler, for us it has been a great experience, it has turned the whole tide”. He expressed his satisfaction that Amana Takaful, as the first adopter in Sri Lanka, had made great strides since implementation of the IA+ Solution and joked that it was to their competitive advantage as they were ahead of the game in embracing advanced analytics.

Mr. Chandana Jayasooriya, Director IT & CIO, AIA Insurance Lanka PLC, stated via a video interview that was broadcast at the event, referring to the successful implementation of the IA+ solution at AIA “I am very happy about that experience. It has been a few months now (since go-live) and we are very optimistic about the way forward”, “GrayMatter brought in best practices from other mature markets and were strong enough to make us understand important aspects of how we should look at data analytics”, and acknowledged GBC’s role by concluding “Global Business Counselling has always been with us looking into where we need support and managing expectations at each stage of the project providing great value additions”.

Mr. Chandri Gunawardhana, founder & CEO of Global Business Counselling, summed up the occasion, stating that “GrayMatter has delivered on its promises to the insurance industry of Sri Lanka with their advanced technology. Today we celebrate 2 years of successful partnership. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that great successful partnerships can only be completed with great clientele, and I thank you for placing your trust in GrayMatter and Global Business Counselling“.

Mr. Vikas Gupta, CEO & CTO, GrayMatter Software Services, commented about the event “This confluence of seasoned insurance experts was certainly a fitting commemoration of the customer success delivered by GrayMatter in association with GBC. We are thankful to Mr Gunawardhana and GBC for providing superlative domain expertise and client management which has facilitated our IA+ implementation and successful project closure”.

The event closed with cocktails and fellowship among the industry’s top professionals.

AIA implements state of the art advanced insurance analytics solution for its operations in Sri Lanka

AIA Insurance Sri Lanka PLC selected pre-built Insurance Analytics (IA+) from GrayMatter Software Services for their Sales & distribution channel with the aim of sharpening their strategic initiatives towards better customer experience and effective distribution channel management. Notably, GrayMatter has implemented its Insurance Analytics (IA+) Solution at AIA Bhd. Malaysia in the recent past.

From L- R : Chandri Gunawardhana- Founder & Principal Consultant of Global Business Counselling, Vikas Gupta – CEO & CTO at GrayMatter, Shah Rouf – CEO at AIA Insurance PLC. Sri Lanka, Naushad Khan – SVP & Head Insurance Analytics at GrayMatter, and Rajeev Arora – Data Scientist at GrayMatter.

Mr. Chandana Jayasooriya, Director IT & CIO, AIA Insurance Lanka PLC, stated, referring to the successful implementation of the IA+ solution at AIA, that “I am very happy about that experience. It has been a few months now (since go-live) and we are very optimistic about the way forward”, “GrayMatter brought in best practices from other mature markets and were strong enough to make us understand important aspects of how we should look at data analytics”, and acknowledged GBC’s role by concluding “Global Business Counselling has always been with us looking into where we need support and managing expectations at each stage of the project providing great value additions”.

The IA+ Solution from GrayMatter has benefitted insurance companies in terms of improving top line growth & operational efficiency. The project at AIA Sri Lanka primarily focused on Tied Agency channel and the scope included data integration with multiple source systems, development of a centralized data warehouse and implementation of role based dashboards for the complete sales Hierarchy, and also covered Sales planning and Forecasting module.

Mr Vikas Gupta, CEO at GrayMatter said “We are happy to associate with AIA Sri Lanka in their endeavor towards building most productive distribution channel. We are partnering with AIA Sri Lanka to leverage their potential with cutting-edge technology.” He also mentioned “The scorecard approach of IA+ dashboard will enable the line managers to identify problem areas very quickly and take corrective action. The Sales Planning & Forecasting module of IA+ will help them plan their New Business more accurately and track the execution which can lead to higher activity and productivity”.

Mr Chandri Gunawardhana, founder CEO and Principal Consultant of Global Business Counselling stated “The fact that AIA a global insurance giant would select IA+ for their operations in Sri Lanka is a testament to the cutting-edge capabilities that IA+ offers and we are happy to have played a pioneering role in introducing advanced insurance analytics to the Sri Lankan insurance sector”.

Amana Takaful Select GrayMatter’s Insurance Analytics (IA+)

Top insurer Amana Takaful PLC, Sri Lanka, announced their decision to go with GrayMatter’s Insurance Analytics (IA+) to execute their Business Analytics program across Life & Non Life Insurance in Colombo. This is in line with Amana Takaful’s strategy to develop a strong analytics culture to gain market share, enhance customer experience and improve operational efficiency. Increasingly Analytics has been a key driver of business growth as per global trends across Insurance Industry in developing and developed economies today. (more…)

GrayMatter’s Strategic Alliance with Global Business Counselling for APAC Markets

GrayMatter Software, a renowned International Analytics Company, announces it’s Partnership with Global Business Counselling a Singapore and Sri Lanka based Consulting group for Asia Pacific region. This partnership is strategic to both entities and will benefit the markets in which both operate leveraging their strengths in BI, Analytics, Big Data and Business Consulting. (more…)