AIA Insurance has offered comprehensive Health Policies to the senior management and employees of Sun Lanka Private Limited, intended at ensuring their financial protection in case of any health problems for themselves and their entire family.

Health Insurance is not only an essential but a key component to all families today and it is important that we always look after our health. Being in good health matters, now more than ever before. Which is why AIA has supported Sun Lanka in offering comprehensive Health Policies with unique medical benefits that takes care of their employees’ health.

Offered with a range of health and protection benefits to safeguard the employees, AIA’s health policy provides a cashless hospitalisation cover, per day income benefit, critical illness cover, surgery cover along with a life insurance cover and an accident death benefit as well.

As the Best Life Insurance Company in Sri Lanka for the third year (awarded by Capital Finance International 2021 and Global Banking and Finance 2020, 2019) AIA’s mission is to help Sri Lankans live healthier, longer, better lives and this health cover intends to, in a small yet meaningful way, do just that.

Sun Lanka Auto Traders (Pvt) Ltd is a premier automobile accessories supplier in Sri Lanka. It has become one of the most prominent pioneer organisations with an influential outlet network providing the best products on vehicle accessories, vehicle security alarm systems, car audio and video systems. The company’s workforce consists of over 100 staff members, including 35 well-trained electricians, for a remarkable service.

AIA is always looking at providing solutions to corporates and their employees with living benefits such as hospitalisation through health covers and peaceful retirement through pension schemes. And in the event of an unfortunate situation to the main policyholder, these solutions would be a real strength and support to the beneficiary or immediate family.

Sri Lanka’s best life insurer (recognised by Capital Finance International 2021 and Global Banking and Finance Review 2020, 2019) celebrated their top-performing Wealth Planners at the AIA Sales Convention held recently at BMICH. The event was hosted under the theme ‘Against the Wave’ and recognised the exceptional annual performance of AIA’s Wealth Planners whose passion and perseverance helped them record a remarkable performance. They were also appreciated for being true ambassadors of their promise to help customers live healthier, longer and better lives. The event was graced by AIA’s CEO Chathuri Munaweera, Deputy CEO Upul Wijesinghe, AIA Group Regional Distribution Officer Calvin Foo, AIA’s Senior Management members, Agency Operation teams along with Wealth Planners and Wealth Planners’ Managers from across the island.

The highlight of the evening were the six main awards presented to recognise the best achievers of 2021. This year’s winner of the Best Wealth Planner was Sanjeewani Somarathna from the Kandy Main DU. Rasika Sandakelum (Colombo Region 4) and Sarath Jayalal (Maharagama DU) won 1^st Runner up and 2^nd Runner up respectively.

The Best Wealth Planners’ Manager award was won by Thilak Kumarasinghe from Mawanella ADO, while Nimal Warnakulasuriya (Wennappuwa DU) and E. H. Piyadasa (Negombo Region1) won 1^st Runner up and 2^nd Runner up respectively.

Meanwhile, Thakshila Koralage from the Moratuwa ADO won the Best Cluster Wealth Planners’ Manager award. Krishan Dassanayaka from Panadura ADO won 1^st Runner up while Chandima Wanniarachchi from Kurunegala ADO won 2^nd Runner up.

Vinol Priyasenarath from Moratuwa ADO won the Best Area Development Manager. Dileepa Ameendra (Tissamaharama & Matara ADO) and Y. G. G. B. Yatigammana (Mawanella ADO) won 1^st Runner up and 2^nd Runner up respectively.

The Best 3 Tier Manager Award was awarded to Priyantha Dias from Moratuwa ADO. The 1^st runner up and 2^nd runner up awards went to Chamara Priyananda (Homagama Region 1) and Uthpala Wanigasooriya (Colombo Region 3) respectively.

Not to forget that Rasika Perera was adjudged the Best Distribution Unit Head from Nugegoda DU. Eresh Silva from Negombo Region 1 was the 1^st runner up and Sisira Banneheke from Kurunegala DU was the 2^nd runner up in this award category.

The theme ‘Against the Wave’ was intended at highlighting AIA Wealth Planners’ persistent commitment to excel amidst the multifaceted instabilities in the country. They also ensured to keep to their promise of helping Sri Lankans live healthier, longer better lives, while providing a superior service and advice to AIA’s valued customers.

AIA Insurance was the only insurer to win the LEGEND title at the GPTW awards ceremony held recently in Colombo, surpassing the legendary 10 years as a Great Place to Work. This tremendous journey of AIA is a testament to its continued commitment in creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture rooted in the well-being and professional growth of all employees.

Great workplace cultures are built to last. Within the company, AIA creates and develops programmes that promote a healthy and innovative work culture while empowering employees to thrive at work and in life. Through shared experiences and collaboration in overcoming challenges, employees at AIA forge meaningful connections as supportive teammates while shaping an engaged and motivated culture that creates a community spirit and even family-like atmosphere.

AIA’s Chief Executive Officer Chathuri Munaweera commented, “A great place to work starts with a culture that enables us to have the opportunity to reach our potential. Being recognised as a Legend in creating a Great Place to Work by our employees for ten consecutive years is an incredible honour, a great source of pride and a testament to the strength and consistency of our culture. AIA Sri Lanka is a legend because it inspires, impacts and has touched the lives of many in such a positive way. It is the people of AIA that enables this with passion and purpose. This difference we make as an organisation starts with every individual at AIA. I thank the leaders at AIA at all levels for empowering our people to be their best and make a difference in their own unique way. Providing growth opportunities through great training, development and experience is a key enabler of this process and ultimately it goes to facilitate great value to customers.​”

AIA’s Director Human Resources Thushari Perera added, “amid lockdowns and hybrid work arrangements, a key priority for us was to ensure that we continue to support our people so they can continue to do great work. We have always ensured that the right tools were provided to collaborate, communicate and connect irrespective of their work arrangements. At AIA, we don’t simply believe in being the ‘The Best’, we believe in better because there’s no limit to how far better can take us.  We strive to create an environment where every one of our people feel seen, safe, connected and courageous. This guides us to not only how we treat one another, but how we serve our clients and how we support the communities where we live and work.”

With a rich heritage and an innovative mindset, AIA Insurance encourages job seekers with a fresh perspective, a collaborative mindset, and a sense of relentless curiosity to join us and be a part of our journey.

The AIA/DFCC Bancassurance Awards Ceremony was held recently at the Oak Room at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. The event recognized the top performers from AIA Insurance’s and DFCC Bank’s Bancassurance business while celebrating the strong, long-standing partnership between these two giants in the banking and insurance spaces. Individuals driven by commitment and dedication to develop Bancassurance who excelled across 2019, 2020 and 2021, from AIA Bancassurance and DFCC Bank’s business channels, were honoured at the event.

Thimal Perera, CEO of DFCC Bank, and Chathuri Munaweera, CEO of AIA Insurance, were among the guests of note at the event, along with other members and senior management teams of the two organizations. AIA Insurance has been DFCC Bank’s exclusive partner for life-insurance-related products delivered through the Bank’s islandwide branch network since November 2016, and the two have entered an extended agreement for this purpose.

Discussing the Awards and the partnership, CEO at DFCC Bank, Thimal Perera said, “The long-term agreement between our two organizations was forged to create value for our customers, providing them with competitively priced insurance and banking solutions to meet diverse financial and protection needs. In this endeavour, we have witnessed some stunning performances from individuals within DFCC Bank and at AIA Insurance that deserve to be celebrated. It is this that has inspired the AIA DFCC Bancassurance Awards. I take this opportunity to congratulate the winners and hope that they will inspire others too. It’s also important to take this opportunity to recognize the exceptional working-relationship DFCC and AIA have built. This is a partnership of equals that makes us better together than alone.”

The main award categories included Annual CEO’s Club Awards, Central Sales Team Highest Volume Generated Team Leaders, MDRT Winners, Best Financial Planning Executive, Million Club Awards, Best New Entrant Branch, Most Productive Branch, Highest Long-Term Branch, Best Bancassurance Sales Manager, Best Regional Manager, Best Branch and Top Introducer Awards. Some categories were presented to DFCC and AIA alone, while the two organizations shared others.  

“This is a great occasion and a celebration of not just our long-standing partnership but also the incredible people behind it that make it all work. We are incredibly pleased to partner with one of Sri Lanka’s oldest and most digitally progressive banks. This is a true partnership where we play off each other’s strengths to win together. My heartiest congratulations to all the winners and may we all aspire to excellence every day”, added Chathuri Munaweera, CEO of AIA Insurance.

In total, 182 awards were presented to star performers from DFCC Bank and AIA Insurance, recognizing their exceptional work and effort, promoting wealth management, retirement planning, health insurance and higher education planning during the most challenging times Sri Lanka has faced as a nation. The most coveted awards at the AIA DFCC Bancassurance Awards included the Best Branch Award and the Top Introducer Award. Accordingly, the Kottawa Branch clinched the award for Best Branch 2019, while The Matara Branch and Bandaragama Branch won for 2020, for Category 1 and 2 respectively. The winners of the Top Introducer Awards for 2019, 2020 and 2021 were Samitha Jayathilake from the Kottawa Branch, Viraj Udugama from the Kalutara Branch and Dhananjaya Nandasiri from the Matara Branch, respectively.

 DFCC Bank and AIA Insurance will continue to work together to deliver exceptional value to customers in terms of insurance products and services, delivered conveniently and accessibly through DFCC Bank’s islandwide network of branches. The two have made strategic moves to ensure they can continue serving customers with agility through emerging challenges and a transformational economic environment.

DFCC Matara Branch awarded best branch for 2021 in Category 01.

AIA Sri Lanka, a part of AIA Group, World’s Largest Life Insurer (by market capitalisation) entered into a digitally robust bancassurance partnership with Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s largest private bank. This partnership combines AIA’s compelling propositions, its digital expertise and proven bancassurance expertise with Commercial Bank’s network of more than 268 branches across Sri Lanka and its valued customer base.

The relationship is intended to go beyond an ordinary bancassurance relationship and facilitate a digitally enabled bancassurance platform. It will offer Commercial Bank’s customers and employees a range of innovative products and an ecosystem of vital financial advice on their protection, long-term savings and retirement planning needs with the best of AIA’s experience and expertise in Asia.

As a pioneer in bancassurance, AIA will apply its in-branch sales expertise, leading point-of-sale technology and broad product range across Commercial Bank’s customer base.  Commercial Bank of Ceylon is Sri Lanka’s largest private bank with a customer base that has significant potential to deepen life and health insurance penetration. This will further strengthen AIA’s competitive advantage in the industry.

Both AIA and Commercial Bank are longstanding partners of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Under the IFC-DFAT Women in Work program, Commercial Bank previously entered into an MOU offering exclusive insurance solutions for the Bank’s Anagi account holders to ensure financial security for women in Sri Lanka.

"We are truly excited to partner as a preferred insurer with Commercial Bank which is the largest private bank in Sri Lanka. Our bancassurance partnership with Commercial Bank brings together two trusted financial institutions with a long history of operating in Sri Lanka to build on the significant progress already achieved and increase the penetration of life and health insurance across Sri Lanka. It is also another timely forward step in our endeavour to provide the bank's customers with opportunities that add greater protection and value to their lives through our range of need-based insurance solutions," said Chathuri Munaweera, Chief Executive Officer/ Executive Director of AIA Insurance.

Sanath Manatunge, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank said, "As Sri Lanka’s largest private bank, our customers come to rely on us to deliver world class products and services that offer value to them. By partnering with Sri Lanka’s best life insurer, we will be able to offer our customers access to high quality, tailored life insurance products and services that offer protection suited to their needs. We are pleased to tie up with AIA Insurance, a trusted company with a strong reputation and are confident that these services will strengthen the relationship with our customers."

The new partnership arrangements will be implemented initially in Colombo and its suburbs and spread out to all Commercial Bank branches in gradual stages.

AIA Insurance wins the ‘Digital Insurance Initiative of the Year’ for launching the integrated AIA MyPOS system. AIA bagged this award for its pioneering effort in digital transformation to make the insurance business faster, easier, more precise and more efficient. This cutting-edge solution disrupted the way agents interact with customers and set a new and risen benchmark for the industry and simplified insurance disruption.

Recognising that digital innovation is the key to driving and improving customer experiences is vital in these unprecedented market conditions and that is what was understood well by AIA. The Company’s commitment to accelerate innovation and drive digital adoption drove the inception of the integrated AIA MyPOS system that uses next generation platforms with human centric design principles and utilizes modern architecture and security requirements. AIA has delivered multiple success stories over the years by aligning to its Technology, Digital and Analytical (TDA) vision. The implementation of cloud strategy, mobile and web strategy, back-office automation and company’s top attention on information security reinforces its position as the benchmark for customer excellence in the industry.

On receiving the award, AIA’s Chief Technology Officer, Umeshi De Fonseka said “we are proud and humbled to be recognised among leading insurers from around the Asia Pacific region and win the ‘Digital Insurance Initiative of the Year – Sri Lanka’ award at the prestigious Insurance Asia Awards. Our innovative tech-enabled solutions are at the center of our growth story, and it has helped us expand our customer base.”

Sharing her thoughts, AIA’s Chief Executive Officer, Chathuri Munaweera said, “we consider these awards to be important milestones in our continuing journey of providing excellent service to our customers. Digitalising our customer processes and providing seamless online accessibility towards our products and services takes a central place in our support structures moving forward. This award is yet another strong amplifier that we are on the right track in terms of the unique strategic actions put in place by our dedicated and highly skilled team to develop the integrated AIA MyPOS system. This has been a journey of learning and we would like to thank our sales teams and our valued customers for their patience, trust and confidence.”

The Insurance Asia Awards recognises the conscious efforts of the companies to put out solutions and deliver exceptional value to its stakeholders. It further goes on to honour insurance companies in the Asia Pacific region that rise to challenges. Nominations from across Asia-Pacific are reviewed by a prestigious panel of judges and experts from across the region to select the very best candidates for the awards.

Continuing its societal endeavours even during these difficult times and supporting Sri Lankans to live healthier, longer, better lives, AIA announced the renewal of its partnership with the Sri Lanka Cancer Society in 2022. This will be the fourth consecutive year that AIA will donate Rs. 100/- on behalf of every new policy sold in the year, to the Sri Lanka Cancer Society. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in this regard was signed between AIA Deputy CEO and Chief Agency Officer Upul Wijesinghe and Cancer Society Chairperson Anoja Karunaratne.

Funds donated by AIA over the years are being used by the Cancer Society for the provision of care and solace to needy cancer patients as well as increasing awareness on the prevention and treatment of cancer, which is a rapidly growing concern in Sri Lanka.  In fact, Non-Communicable Diseases such as Cancer continues to be a very real problem in Sri Lanka and are responsible for over 80% of deaths, which is well above the global rate of 74%.

AIA’s CEO Chathuri Munaweera noted, “Cancer is one of the nation’s leading health concerns and we will not waiver in our commitment to lend a hand to those in need even amidst these difficult times.  It is our humble privilege to continue our support to the Cancer Society, despite the current economic crisis. Cancer requires specialised treatment, dedicated care and a strong support system for the patients and their families and we want to continue helping the cause while appreciating the good work that the Sri Lanka Cancer Society are doing in this regard.”

Cancer Society Chairperson Anoja Karunaratne thanked AIA for their continued support, “we are delighted that AIA renewed their partnership and will continue to financially support the Cancer Society’s activities. We sincerely appreciate that despite the economic challenges, AIA continued to provide financial support during the last year, which was immeasurably helpful in treating needy cancer patients during a very tough time.”

She added, “we use the significant contributions made by AIA largely towards the operation and upkeep of the ‘Bandaranayake Memorial Homes’, which provides a transit home and care facilities to needy patients seeking treatment at the National Cancer Institute and the Apeksha Hospital. We also focus on increasing awareness on the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer which is a very important part of educating the public. We rely on external support to provide direct care for patients who are undergoing this ordeal while trying to ensure they receive the best of care and support, both medically and emotionally. So, it has been an immense strength to have AIA’s support for our cause.”