EFU Insurance

Last updated
EFU Group
EFU General Insurance Limited
EFU Life Assurance Limited
PSX:  EFUG
PSX:  EFUL
KSE 100 component
Industry Insurance
Founded1932 (1932)
Headquarters Karachi, Pakistan
Key people
  • Rafique R. Bhimjee (chairman)
  • Taher G. Sachak (vice chairman)
  • Mohammed Ali Ahmed (CEO)
ProductsUnit-Linked, Conventional and Group Products
Subsidiaries
  • EFU General Insurance Limited
  • EFU Life Assurance Limited
  • EFU Health Insurance Limited
Website efuinsurance.com

EFU Insurance, originally Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company Limited, is a Pakistan based insurance company. It was the first insurance company in India founded in 1932, owned by the Muslims based in Calcutta.

Contents

After the partition of India, the company moved to Pakistan and operated in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The company ceased to exist in East Pakistan after it became Bangladesh in 1971.

History

First meeting of the founders and sponsors of the Eastern Federal Union Insurance Co. Ltd (1931 in London). L-R: Abdur Rahman Siddiqui, Partner Haira Trading Co., B.M. Collins of B.M. Collins & Co. Ltd., London; C.H. Faloon, General Manager, Atlas Assurance Company, Khondker Fazle Haider, Partner Haira Trading Co., London. The EFU founders and sponsors.jpg
First meeting of the founders and sponsors of the Eastern Federal Union Insurance Co. Ltd (1931 in London). L-R: Abdur Rahman Siddiqui, Partner Haira Trading Co., B.M. Collins of B.M. Collins & Co. Ltd., London; C.H. Faloon, General Manager, Atlas Assurance Company, Khondker Fazle Haider, Partner Haira Trading Co., London.
Night View of EFU Life Building EFU Life By Asif Akbar.jpg
Night View of EFU Life Building

It was the first insurance company in India owned and run by Muslims targeted for the Muslim populace. [2] Abdur Rahman Siddiqui of Surat and Khonkar Fazle Haider of Murshidabad district were the company's founders. [3] Siddiqui and Haider executed a “memorandum of understanding” [4] in 1931 with one of leading British insurance companies, the “Atlas” and Messrs. B.M. Collins, Lloyds brokers. The company was incorporated on 2 September 1932 in Calcutta with E.N. Menhinick, a senior manager of Atlas as the first chief executive officer of the company. [5] The main objective of the company was to provide “insurance service to the community and also to produce competent Muslim insurance personnel.” [6] Aga Khan III and Hamidullah Khan (last Nawab of Bhopal) became the “Patrons” of the new company. Malik Ghulam Muhammad helped to arrange substantial subscriptions from the State of Hyderabad and State and Bhopal. Sir Victor Sassoon became the largest foreign shareholder [7] and Mirza Ahmad Ispahani bought most of the shares of the EFU. [8]

The company officially started as a general insurance company. In 1936, life business of the company started with a paid-for business of about Rs. 5.0 million. By 1946 the company started to move ahead steadily but major upheaval of the century had occurred, in which Muslims all over the sub-continent sustained immense loss, both of life and property after creation of Pakistan. [9] The EFU management transferred its registered office to Chittagong, East Pakistan before partition. [10] The company completed a new Life Business of Rs. 4.5 million by 1947 and during 1948 transacted a total business of Rs. 13.9 million. [9]

The EFU shifted its head office to Karachi, West Pakistan in May 1950. [11] In 1952, the company hired Khuda Buksh, an inspector from Oriental Governmental Security Life Assurance, Calcutta, as life manager for East Pakistan. Buksh, introduced a system of training classes and expanded the entire field organization on scientific lines. [9] The company thereafter continued showing tremendous upward trend in its paid-for business from 25 million in 1953 to 76.7 million in 1960. During the same period the premium income of the company went up from Rs. 3.3 million to Rs. 11.9 million. [12] In 1960, the company almost reached the door of bankruptcy due to bad underwriting against marine hull business on overseas account. [13] Abbas Khaleeli, a former bureaucrat and Roshen Ali Bhimjee, owner of Insurance Agency Pak Underwriters were credited for averting the bankruptcy. [14] Subsequently, Mirza Ahmad Ispahani disinvested his shares and major shares were taken by the “Habib family”, ARAG Limited and rest was distributed to the public. [15]

Abbas Khaleeli and Roshen Ali Bhimjee officially took over the company on 1 January 1961. Khuda Buksh worked for the company as life manager, deputy life manager and general manager from 1960 to April 1969. He was recognized as the “driving force” [16] who “had successfully helped to grow the company into the leading and dominating position” [17] in the country. During the 1960s, EFU became the largest company in the Afro-Asian countries excluding Japan. [18] In March 1971, the Bangladesh War of Liberation led to creation of modern Bangladesh in December 1971 when the EFU lost its eastern division. [19]

Bangladesh nationalized all Pakistan based and local life insurance companies in August 1972. In Pakistan, after 1972 the EFU operated solely as a general Insurance company. In 1992, the Government of Pakistan opened up life insurance to the private sector and EFU was reorganized and EFU Life Assurance Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 as the first private sector life insurance company. [20]

In 1992, the Government of Pakistan opened up life insurance to the private sector and EFU Life Assurance Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 as the first private sector life insurance company. EFU commenced writing group life insurance business in the same year, individual life business in 1994 and is today the largest life insurance company in the private sector in the country. [21]

Subsidiaries

It comprises the following three companies:

EFU House

The EFU House was acquired by the company in 2002. The former name of the building is Qamar House. [25]

Notes

  1. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 84.
  2. ↑ Rahim 2011, p. 17.
  3. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 157.
  4. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 85.
  5. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 86.
  6. ↑ Rahim 2011, p. 18.
  7. ↑ Rahim 2011, p. 19.
  8. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 221.
  9. 1 2 3 Buksh 2010, p. 280.
  10. ↑ Rahim 2011, p. 21.
  11. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 303.
  12. ↑ Rahim 2011, pp. 227–239.
  13. ↑ Rahim 2011, pp. 75–76.
  14. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, pp. 88–89.
  15. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, pp. 243–244.
  16. ↑ Ansari 2010, p. 83.
  17. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 313.
  18. ↑ Karnowski 2001b, p. 100.
  19. ↑ Rahim 2011, p. 195.
  20. ↑ Karnowski 2001a, p. 94.
  21. ↑ "Efu Group". www.efuhealth.com. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  22. ↑ "EFU Insurance – Company Overview". efuinsurance.com. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  23. ↑ "Pakistan's leading life Insurance company for financial planning.|". EFU Life Assurance. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  24. ↑ "EFU Health Insurance Limited". www.efuhealth.com. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  25. ↑ "EFU House, Karachi". heritage.eftsindh.com. Retrieved 2020-07-12.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maulana Azad College</span> Public Institution in India

Maulana Azad College is a government college of liberal arts, commerce and science in India, located in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The college is fully government-administered. It is located near the junction of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and S. N. Banerjee Road, popularly called "Lotus crossing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MCB Bank</span> Pakistani commercial bank

MCB Bank Limited is a Pakistani commercial bank which is based in Lahore, Punjab. The majority of shares are owned by companies that are part of Nishat Group or Malaysian bank Maybank.

Mirza Ahmad Ispahani (1898–1986) was a Perso-Bengali businessman based in Chittagong and the patriarch of the Ispahani family. He was the founder of Orient Airways and the first chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He was the chairman of Ispahani Group.

Mirza Abul Hassan Ispahani was a Pakistani politician and diplomat who served as an ambassador of Pakistan to the United States.

The Ispahani family, also known as the House of Ispahani, are a Perso-Bengali business family. In Bangladesh, they own and manage M. M. Ispahani Limited, one of the country's leading conglomerates. Originally hailing from Isfahan, Iran, the family have been settled in the Indian subcontinent for more than two centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlas Group</span>

Atlas Group is a group of companies headquartered in Lahore, Pakistan. The group was founded by Yusuf H. Shirazi who was the chairman of Atlas Group. He was also the founder member of Karachi Stock Exchange, Lahore Stock Exchange and International Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr Yousaf Shirazi died on 20 October 2019.

Unilever Pakistan Limited, formerly known as Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited, is a Pakistani fast-moving consumer goods company based in Karachi. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational company Unilever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jiban Bima Corporation</span>

Jiban Bima Corporation (JBC) is the state-run life insurance corporation in Bangladesh under the provisions of the Insurance Act 1938, Insurance Rules 1958, and related other laws enforceable in Bangladesh in Bangladesh Corporation Act 1973. The JBC started on 14 May 1973 with assets and liabilities worth TK. 157 million of defunct 37 life Insurance companies.

The Dawood Group is a group of companies headquartered in Karachi. It is active in diverse businesses and industries of the Dawood family-business and is owned by Dawood family.

Bengalis in Pakistan are ethnic Bengali people who had lived in either West Pakistan or East Pakistan prior to 1971 or live in present-day Pakistan. Most Pakistani Bengalis, are bilingual speaking both Urdu and Bengali and are mainly settled in Karachi. Bengalis that arrived in Pakistan before 1971 have now assimilated with the Urdu-speaking people in Karachi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutto family mausoleum</span> Mausoleum in Sindh, Pakistan

The Bhutto family mausoleum is situated at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan. The mazar contains the graves of the Bhutto family, and is the burial place of Zulfikar, Murtaza, Shahnawaz, Nusrat, and Benazir Bhutto.

Insurance in Pakistan is regulated under the Insurance Ordinance, 2000. It is divided into three components: life insurance, general insurance and health insurance. The Government of Pakistan established the Department of Insurance in April 1948 as a department of the Ministry of Commerce; the aim of this department is to take care of affairs related to the insurance industry.

Khuda Bakhsh, meaning "God-Gifted", is a male Muslim given name popular in Bangladesh, Iran and Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Dawood</span> Pakistani industrialist and philanthropist (1905–2002)

Ahmed Dawood was a Pakistani industrialist and a philanthropist. Dawood founded several companies and The Dawood Foundation (TDF), which established the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khuda Buksh</span> Bangladeshi businessman and humanitarian

Khuda Buksh was an eminent Bengali life insurance salesman and humanitarian from the Indian subcontinent. For four decades he represented the "life and soul of the insurance industry" throughout the region, leaving his indelible mark on the business in three separate countries: British India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Buksh, or "Insurance Giant," as he became known, gained fame in the 1940s, specifically for his salesmanship in East India. From the 1950s to 1960s, he helped build one of Pakistan's top insurance companies from scratch, placing it on the world map. He was the pioneer of life insurance industry growth and development in Bangladesh; his name became "synonymous with the life insurance industry," and he is even referred to, in Bangladesh, as the "Father of Insurance."

Husna Banu Khanam was a Bangladeshi educationist, writer and Nazrul singer. She was a pioneer of Bengali Muslim women journalism. In 1999, she received the Ekushey Padak Award for her contribution in music, and in 2004, she received the Begum Rokeya Medal for her contribution to the socio-economic development of women by the Government of Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaheen Foundation</span> The charitable wing of the Pakistan air force

Shaheen Foundation is a welfare foundation of the Pakistan Air Force. Shaheen Foundation works in different sectors ranging from education to aviation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nishat Group</span> Pakistani conglomerates

Nishat Group is a group of companies headquartered in Lahore, Pakistan. It was founded by Pakistani business magnate Mian Muhammad Yahya in 1951. Mian Muhammad Mansha is the current chairman of the group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jubilee Insurance (Pakistan)</span> Pakistani general and life insurance company

Jubilee Insurance is a Pakistani general and life insurance company headquartered in Karachi. It is a subsidiary of Swiss for-profit organization Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. As of 2016, it was one of the largest insurance companies in Pakistan.

Fakhruddin Valibhai Valika was a Pakistani industrialist who led the Valika Group, which had subsidiaries such as Valika Cement, Valika Steel now known as Peoples Steel, Valika Chemicals, Valika Textile, and Muhammadi Steamship Company Limited until the nationalisation of major industries in Pakistan.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.