SRI LANKA’S HNB ASSURANCE PROFIT UP 33%

INVESTMENT income from government bonds helped Sri Lanka-based HNB Assurance to a 33% increase in after-tax profit to Rupee165.4m ($1.44m) for 2008. Gross Written Premium was up 25% year-on-year at Rupee1.8bn, but the company saw falling premium rates in its general insurance operations. Managing director Manjula de Silva said that margins had been eroded to “unacceptable levels”. He said that the competitive conditions and the impact of higher rates of inflation on claims costs led to a Rupee57m underwriting loss. However this was more than outweighed by a sharp increase in investment income providing a Rupee69.9m pre-tax profit for the general insurance operations.