Profile on General Accident Insurance
Company Jamaica Limited (GA)

General Accident has been operating in Jamaica since the 1920’s when Agents were appointed for General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation in Perth, Scotland.

General Accident Insurance Company Jamaica Limited was formed in 1981 as a local Jamaican insurer. The sole shareholder is Musson Jamaica Limited. In 1988, Phoenix of Jamaica Insurance Company was purchased and its portfolio was merged with General Accident.

We write all non-life classes and have traditionally concentrated on property business. This has become more problematical in recent years, a reflection of the pressures in the international reinsurance markets. The challenge now facing the whole Jamaican insurance market is to ensure that other classes support themselves.

We have always been broker-oriented, with direct business accounting for 22% of our GWP for 2001. This has enabled us to implement the most efficient systems possible. We place a great deal of importance on our Management Information System.

We are one of the few Jamaican general insurance companies producing management information reports. This enables us to react to changes quite quickly and has been an important factor in our success. We were one of the first companies to install modern, flexible computer software. This has taken several years to bring fully on line, but the system now contributes significantly to our efficiency. The latest version of our software was installed in mid 2000 and continues to bring substantial benefits for 2002.

We believe in tight cash flow management to be the basis of a successful business. This applies equally to both collections from brokers and clients as well as payments to claimants and reinsurers. In past years, we have developed an enviable reputation for paying our reinsurers on time. We have therefore assured our reinsurers that we shall continue to meet our obligations within the credit periods agreed. Our producing brokers realize that our ability to pay reinsurers and claimants promptly depends on premiums due to us being paid within the credit periods negotiated with them. Although our initiatives in this direction were very painful at first, the repercussions mean that policyholders are now more aware that premiums have to be on time. This is one of the ways that GAJ has improved the level of professionalism in the market.

Our Shareholder

Our sole shareholder is Musson Jamaica Limited, one of the largest Jamaican conglomerates. The core company within the group imports, exports and distributes foodstuffs under the NuPak label. Related to this are the food canning factory, sweet factory and a spice processing plant. Other interests include Stanley Motta – a large distributor of photographic equipment, domestic appliances and large machinery for specialist commercial applications such as X-ray, surveying and microfilm. C.D. Alexander is the estate agency and auction side of the group, T. Geddes Grant Limited, another food distributor and Facey Commodity, a pharmaceutical company. During the past year, the group has acquired Xerox and Caribbean Bottlers Ltd. (Coca Cola). Musson also participates in a variety of joint venture operations in Jamaica.

Our Chairman is Mr. A. Desmond Blades, who is also Chairman of Musson. He originally came from Barbados to run the Jamaican branch of Musson, which he eventually acquired. He has built it up to from one of the largest commercial operations in Jamaica. We are proud of our Chairman’s role in the development of Jamaica.

58 Half Way Tree Road, Kingston 10 Tel: 929-8450-1
Email GA: Sharon Donaldson; sharond@genac.com

Visit our website: www.genac.com