The regional life insurance company, GK Life, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Grace Kennedy Financial Group (GKFG), is reportedly targeting Guyana as one of two immediate-term ports of call for establishing itself as a provider of financial services.
Regarded as a ‘high flier’ in the realm of insurance and other services, the company has taken aim at Guyana having already established a presence in thirteen (13) other markets across the region through its GK Life Insurance subsidiary, food and financial services group.
The Bahamas is the second country in which the company is reportedly preparing to put down business ‘roots.’
Incorporated in Barbados, GK Life is licensed as a life insurance company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GKFG. Operations span seven Eastern Caribbean countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Grace Kennedy Group Chief Executive Officer, Don Wehby, has reportedly identified what is now an ‘oil rich’ Guyana as a one of the two regional markets that are currently being considered among the company’s plans for the immediate future.
Asserting that the company’s life insurance acquisitions have been “very successful and also cash-flow rich,” Welby is quoted in the company’s statement as stating that company’s team has been directed to “look at Guyana,” adding that he had personally written to the regulators in Georgetown “to see if we can start a business there.”
The GK Life probe is one of numerous investment inquiries that the Government of Guyana is currently contemplating as the country’s new profile as a ‘high profile’ oil producer travels across the globe.