General Accident for its first quarter ended March 31, 2021 achieved revenues of $3.3 billion, a 30 per cent increase over the previous corresponding period.

As indicated by Chairman P B Scott in the financial statements to shareholders, the company’s performance for the period under review reflects the continued strong performance of its core Jamaican property and motor insurance businesses and recent investments in its emerging insurance subsidiaries in Trinidad and Barbados.

For the period under review, gross written premium produced by the Jamaican operations totalled $3.1 billion while the Trinidadian and Barbadian subsidiaries produced gross written premium of $200 million.

Underwriting refers to the process that a lender or other financial service uses to assess the creditworthiness or risk of a potential customer, while a premium is the amount paid periodically to the insurer by the insured for covering his/her risk.

The Jamaican businesses also produced a net profit before tax of $98.3 million for the quarter under review. However, the group’s profit before tax amounted to $34.6 million, a significant decrease relative to the comparable period in 2020 ($91.3 million).

The decrease reflects losses in Trinidad and Barbados, but Scott noted that even though General Accident’s smaller Barbadian operation is still in its start-up phase, it continues to win key accounts locally.

“These losses in turn were primarily driven by increases in operating costs as we scale, acquire policyholders and otherwise invest in the future of these businesses. We expect the performance of our Trinidadian and Barbadian subsidiaries to improve in the future and continue to believe in our regional expansion strategy,” Scott said.

“Across our operations we have continued to adhere to traditional underwriting discipline while investing in new distribution channels and technology. Our aim is to support our clients in satisfying their insurance needs more efficiently particularly in the digital domain,” he continued.