50 YEARS IN – HOW ONE COMPANY CHANGED THE FACE OF AN INDUSTRY

On June 1, 1970, planes streaked across the Jamaican skies, trailing banners that read ‘Life of Jamaica – For a Better Life’, announcing to the Jamaican people the birth of a company that would revolutionize the local insurance and financial landscape.
Life of Jamaica came to life out of a vision for the establishment of a Jamaican financial sector, inspired by the fresh fervor of nationalism brought on by the country’s 1962 independence. Except for one small establishment, there were no locally operated insurance companies in Jamaica during the 1960s. However, some 17 branches of international companies conducted business in the country, repatriating millions annually.
R. Danny Williams was an insurance agent and Country Manager of one of these branches – that of the North American Life Assurance Company of Canada, when he confessed his vision to create Life of Jamaica to his associates and they set about to form the company, which eventually became Sagicor – the largest life and health insurance company in Jamaica.
Alongside his associates, Williams’ team from the North American Life Branch, bought into his dream and used their own resources - redundancy payments and pension refunds - to raise the capital necessary to start the company.
“All of us had a vision, a mission and indeed a passion to create an insurance industry in Jamaica and indeed, that act fueled the wider creation of a local financial sector,” Williams said.
On April 6, 1970, the company offered Jamaicans the opportunity to purchase ordinary shares when it opened its initial public offering at $1.00 per share. Some 2,500 Jamaicans fully subscribed to the share offering of $2.5 million. Life of Jamaica would become the first ever life insurance company to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Williams was quoted at the time of the IPO opening as saying that the new company would serve to increase employment in a range of professions – including business administration, underwriting, actuarial practices, accountancy, financial planning and electronic data processing.
“Public participation in the ownership of the new company will be a further step towards the Jamaicanization of local financial institutions and will serve to instill in Jamaicans a great sense of pride,” he said.
After the first six months of operation, Life of Jamaica Limited reported that its production of new business had significantly outstripped the best performance of its predecessor – North American Life;