Liberty Insurance Berhad, formerly Uni.Asia General Insurance Berhad (UAG) was officially launched today. This follows the acquisition of a majority stake in the company by Liberty Seguros, a subsidiary of the Liberty Mutual Group, which was completed in July 2014. The US-based Liberty Mutual Group (the Group) founded in 1912, is a global insurer listed on the Fortune 100. In 2014, the group recorded US$39.6b in revenue and US$124.3b in assets.
The launch was officiated by Dato’ Haji Kamil Khalid Ariff, Chairman of Liberty Insurance Berhad. Also present were Luciano Suzuki, Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific Region at Liberty International, David Tan, Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Insurance Berhad, and the company’s senior management team, personnel and business partners.
“UAG has a strong and proud history in Malaysia stretching back 38 years. Our success has been built upon our relationships with our clients as well as with other stakeholders. Moving forward, Liberty Insurance Berhad will incorporate our local experience and Liberty’s global expertise to further enhance these relationships,” Tan said.
Tan added that Liberty Insurance Berhad’s passion for making insurance readily available to all consumers contributes to the objective of ensuring greater insurance coverage for the population of Malaysia. “We believe that being insured is important for enhancing the population’s financial security and social safety net and we want to play an integral role in helping people in Malaysia live safer, more secure lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, Suzuki said the Liberty Mutual Group continues to embrace the local expertise of their operations while uniting everyone behind the strong values that give the Group its unique qualities. “Malaysia has a vibrant and developing insurance industry, and we are extremely excited to establish a footprint in this fast growing and profitable market. Together with Liberty Insurance Berhad, we look forward to our continued success in Southeast Asia’s second largest insurance market,” said Suzuki.
Remarking on Liberty Insurance Berhad’s financial performance, Tan said he looks forward to continuing the company’s recent business momentum, taking its new name and new family to greater heights. “Liberty Insurance Berhad recently finalised our nine-month financial period ended December 2014, and I’m pleased to announce that for this period, the company achieved a gross written premium of RM420 million and a pre-tax profit of RM57 million,” Tan said.
With the rebranding, Liberty Insurance Berhad’s 638 personnel add to Liberty Mutual Group’s more than 50,000 personnel in more than 900 offices worldwide. The Malaysian entity is the 30th country in the Group’s current diversified global presence, which is spread across Asia, the Americas and Europe through the Group’s international and global specialty strategic business units.
