Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Life has been honoured with a Brand Leadership Award on the global stage in acknowledgment of the pre-eminence it commands as a corporate brand, just days after the company was recognised locally for brand excellence by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM).

The Brand Leadership Award was presented to the country’s life insurance leader at the 2009 Global Awards for Brand Excellence of the World Brand Congress, at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, on Wednesday, 4th November, at a gala ceremony at which brand builders from 60 countries were present.

Less than a week earlier, Ceylinco Life was presented with the Bronze award in the Service Brand of the Year category at the SLIM Brand Excellence awards, at which it was the only insurance brand honoured.

The World Brand Congress was the single largest rendezvous of the best brains behind some of the world’s most successful and sought after brands and was the meeting place for leaders from every sector and continent. This year’s theme was "BRANDS – Re:Charge; Innovate; Re:Engage in today’s times."

"This is a truly momentous achievement for Ceylinco Life," the company’s Deputy Chairman R. Renganathan said. "As the winner of the Brand of the Year and Service Brand of the Year in Sri Lanka more than once, we fully appreciate the value of third party endorsements of brand excellence, particularly when they come from an eminent international jury such as that convened by the World Brand Congress."

"These awards are also particularly significant in the context of the challenges the company has had to face over the past year," he said.

The Brand Leadership Award was accepted in Mumbai on behalf of Ceylinco Life by Samitha Hemachandra, the company’s Assistant General Manager Marketing, and Dilshan Perera, Brand Manager.

Congratulating Ceylinco Life’s marketing team, Ceylinco Life Deputy Chief Executive Director Thushara Ranasinghe noted: "One of the best measurements of the brand’s strength was the fact that in 2008, when confidence in financial services institutions was at a historical low, rampant inflation was eroding disposable income and the conflict on the island had reached its zenith, Ceylinco Life achieved a growth of more than 20 per cent, nearly seven percentage points above the industry average."

Validating Ceylinco Life’s claim of market leadership, the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) confirmed in its Annual Report for 2008 that total premium income in Sri Lanka’s long term (life) insurance segment grew 13.9 per cent to Rs 23.613 billion and that Ceylinco Life’s premium income, at Rs 8.257 billion, represented a 34.97 per cent share of the market. Figures in the report also confirmed that Ceylinco Life recorded a growth of 20.6 per cent in the year reviewed, and that it was the only company in the life insurance segment to significantly increase its market share.