Nairobi — AIG Uganda, a subsidiary of American insurance giant AIG has rebranded itself to Chartis, and adopted a more efficient and leaner operation.

Chartis, a special purpose vehicle under the AIG group, will now concentrate on underwriting of short-term insurance business, which is divorced from the group's other services of life and long term insurance, asset management and financial products, which are now mainly offered in its global markets in Europe and the United States.

In an interview with The EastAfrican, Alex Wanjohi, the managing director of Chartis Uganda, said the company will be leaner, nimbler and quicker to respond to both its local and global customers.

"This is a promise for the customer. We are now concentrating on insurance."

This conversion -- effective from November -- is in line with the global rebranding of AIG operations in 160 countries, including Uganda and Kenya.

It comes after a tough year in which the financial sector took a beating from the global financial crisis.

On the back of this, AIG took the advice of the United States government and adopted a more efficient business model to keep its global operations sound, as a way to minimise the effects of the crisis.

Although the Ugandan operation did not handle long term insurance products, the company's image was still tarnished by the financial crisis.

With its positioning as a short term insurer only, Chartis Uganda can steer clear of the parent company's image problems, and also maintain its growth targets.

Company officials have consistently said that while the financial crisis battered the parent company, it did not affect the operations of AIG Uganda.

According to Mr Wanjohi, the Ugandan operation met all its targets last year, posting a 15 per cent growth, although it was knocked off the top position in terms of gross written premiums for 2008, a position that it had occupied for eight years in a row.

Jubilee Insurance now leads, having written Ush28 billion ($14 million) compared with Chartis' Ush25 billion ($12.5 million).

Chartis Uganda nevertheless remains the country's largest insurance provider with net liquid assets in excess of Ush16 billion ($8 million), and last year paid out Ush11 billion ($5.5 million) in claims, with the second largest claims payer forking out Ush7.5 billion ($3.75 million) in comparison.

The company also commands gross liquidity in excess of Ush20 billion ($10 million) in free cash and holds government of Uganda securities and time deposits with leading Ugandan commercial banks.