HISTORY OF GUARDIAN LIFE OF THE CARIBBEAN LIMITED About Us In 1847 amidst the financial crisis in Britain, the abolition of slavery, the collapse of the West Indian bank and the large scale migration into Trinidad, Scotland born Charles Warner saw an opportunity to bring the benefits of life insurance to Trinidad and became the first Director of the Trinidad Board of Standard Life of Edinburgh Scotland. Standard Life ceased transacting new business in Trinidad in 1970 and, as a result, merged their Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados portfolio with that of the Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance Society effective November 15, 1972. Towards the end of the 1970s, all insurance companies operating in Trinidad & Tobago were required to localize their operations. Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited was established to accept the Trinidad & Tobago portfolio of Jamaica Mutual in December 1980. Guardian Life of the Caribbean acquired a majority shareholding in Crown Life (Caribbean) Limited and achieved a merger of the operations of the two companies in January of 1993 and also assumed management of the portfolio of business formally carried on by the Caribbean Atlantic Life Insurance Company (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited. With the acquisition of the Crown Life portfolio, Guardian Life of the Caribbean expanded overseas into Curacao and Aruba. In August of 1995, Guardian Life of the Caribbean entered into a strategic alliance with the Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago which has facilitated the development of the country s first bank assurance company. On June 18, 1996, the restructuring of Guardian Life of the Caribbean was completed and a holding company was established Guardian Holdings Limited. The company is now the largest life insurance provider in the region with over 250,000 policies and assets in excess of $3.5 billion under management. Senior Management Anand Pascal President, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Glorie Babooram Vice President, Employee Benefits Distribution Michael Austin Vice President, Sales & Marketing Norris Lovelace Vice President, Individual Insurance Operations Rhea Tewari Vice President, Employee Benefits Technical
An Icon is born Two centuries ago, in 1847, an intrepid Scot Charles Warner opened the doors of Standard Life of Edinburgh to introduce life insurance to Trinidad and Tobago This bold entrepreneurial venture was done against the dark backdrop of a financial crisis in the UK Today, Guardian Life is recognized worldwide as the Caribbean s most dynamic, successful and stable insurer. 1993 Guardian Life & Crown Life merged. On January 1 st 2004 Guardian Life assumed responsibility for the Health and Group Life portfolios of NEM (West Indies) Limited and Caribbean Home Insurance Limited, now Guardian General Insurance Limited. Guardian Life s long-term vision is to be the number one provider of Employee Benefits in the markets in which it operates. At the core of all this is a human resource development philosophy that is driven by a mission to be the number one integrated financial services institution in the Caribbean. To this end, Guardian Life s team of experienced professionals is guided by a unifying commitment to the Guardian Way, embodied in core values of Integrity, Quality, Serving People and Growth. Ratings of Guardian Life A very stable board with a Balance Sheet consisting of assets totaling 8 Billion for Guardian Life and 22 Billion for Guardian Group. (Dec 2014) Six (6) consecutive years of A-Excellent Rating by AM Best Largest Health Care Provider in the region Largest Provider Network in Trinidad & Tobago Guardian Life has braches not only in Trinidad but also Barbados, Curacao, Aruba and Jamaica International Finance Corporation, which is an arm of the World Bank, invested US$75 million in Guardian Holdings. In 2010, after the signing of the agreement we now have one of their members sitting on the Board of Directors Ms. Marianne Loner. Company of the Decade Award from World Finance In 2010 GHL was awarded Company of the Decade for the period 2001-2010. About the Brand July to August 2013 saw the rebranding under the umbrella Guardian Group. We all now carry a single brand name, logo and tagline, solidifying Guardian Group as a single brand.
Over the last 165 years, we have worn a variety of different hats, from providing hope in the British financial crisis of the mid 19th century to providing the people of Trinidad and Tobago with the benefits of life insurance during the crisis, to consolidating and localizing the Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados portfolios with that of Jamaica and finally the Dutch Caribbean. Over 165 years of continuous service throughout the entire region as our community, and providing peace of mind to customers to let them know that we are here to help take care of the things they care for. According to former Group CEO, Jeffrey Mack : People ask me why we re rebranding. The answer to that, I think, really lies in understanding what the core value proposition of insurance is, and really, it s quite simple. The core value proposition of insurance is that we deliver financial peace of mind. Our customers want to know that in times of stress in their lives, whether it s the loss of a loved one or the loss of a piece of property that the financial consequences of that loss are going to be taken care of. Now, for us to be successful, we have to be able to deliver that value proposition better than our competitors, and the best way for us to do that is to offer superior customer service at all of our touch points and we have to do that in a very efficient way and in a very caring way. Now, the key success for our group really lies in the size of our group but at the moment, we really don t take advantage of the size of our group. We need to be able to operate as one integrated financial service organization that has a shared vision, a shared corporate culture and a shared image and that image needs to be of a large, strong, reliable and caring organization that delivers on that financial peace of mind. Operating as one team and with one vision, delivering superior customer service is how we re best going to be successful. To support our new direction, we embarked on a company-wide process of rebranding starting with a revisioning of our mission and vision statements and extended the process right through to our brand image and corporate identity. For that, we engaged the design and advertising agency, IOM Caribbean. Marlon Darbeau, Creative Director: We began by considering the features Caribbean warmth and basic human communication. This brought us to the point where we analyzed a smile, which is a universal expression of positive energy. It was important for us to capture the energy, radiance and the brightness of this expression and its relation to what we wanted to achieve with the new identity. Exploring further, we began to look at truly Caribbean nuances of warmth, joy, happiness, ease and peace of mind. This led us to consider symbols like hammocks, sailboats, actual sails, even looking at modern architecture and how dynamic those expressions are in reality. This brought us to a critical point of convergence of all of these ideas into a one single identity.
MISSION STATEMENT We shall operate as one integrated, customer-centric company a company which sees the world through it customer s eyes and delivers its brand promise consistently at every customer touch point. VISION To be the customer s preferred choice in financial planning and insurance. SALES CREDO We commit to build on our tradition of integrity by being the dominant provider of personal financial services in the markets where we operate in terms of financial strengthen quality service and professionalism in a manner beneficial to our customers, agents, employees, shareholders and the wider community. VALUE PROPOSITION We provide our customers with maximum accessibility and convenience through our integrated services platform and extensive distribution channels. We consistently and reliably serve our customers, building long term relationships and contributing to our communities growth and sustainability.
CORE VALUE Guardian Group s core values are the guiding principles of the organisation s culture that inform our interactions with every stakeholder of the organization. The Group s core values are aligned to our business aspirations; they represent the quality and character of our organization and reflect our leadership position in our industry. Our Core Values are: SERVICING PEOPLE At Guardian, the customer is at the heart of everything we do, we are passionate about meeting and exceeding our customers needs and expectations TRUST A solid foundation of trust is necessary for an organisation to be effective, especially in today s work environment. Our customers chose to trust us and our brand. As a company, we must live up to our promise. Trust is at the essence of the insurance promise and is rooted in everything we do. Guardian Group s successful business relationships are built on trust. INTEGRITY We uphold uprightness and ethics in all our transactions and interactions. We value our reputation and conduct our business with integrity, adhering to moral and ethical principles. QUALITY Our focus on quality is in every aspect of our business, not just our products but also our services, our operations and our people. We are committed to providing service of the highest quality, which means that we continually strive to be the best in all that we do.