General insurance continues to be a national safety net for Sri Lanka, particularly during floods, landslides, cyclones and the intensifying climate-driven events that have become more frequent. As a responsible insurer, HNB General Insurance (HNBGI) accepts risk with confidence and manages it with discipline, readiness, and customer-focused responsibility, ensuring that individuals, SMEs and communities receive swift financial support when it matters most.
Its operational model, extending across sales, underwriting, finance, claims, distribution, and customer service, enables the organisation to deliver stronger pricing accuracy, improved risk selection, disciplined financial management, and a more seamless experience for customers across the country.
Moving into 2026, HNBGI is aligning its organisation around distribution-led growth, operational discipline, and enhanced responsiveness. This includes improving customer engagement, advancing frontline efficiency and enhancing brand value through stronger visibility, consistent service delivery and a unified market presence. A core part of this strategy is the company’s balanced portfolio across the overall distribution channel, which continues to strengthen year on year. Motor remains the company’s largest gateway for new customers and a stabilising contributor to premium growth, while Non-Motor has shown sustained momentum across fire, engineering, liability and miscellaneous classes, supported by improving underwriting and expanded partnerships.
This class mix provides a diversified foundation for growth and supports the organisation’s efforts to improve service, expand reach, and embed stronger customer engagement across all segments.
Sampath Wickramarachchi, Chief Business Officer / General Manager at HNBGI, highlights the importance of unified execution. “Balanced growth across the overall distribution channel is critical, but what is even more important is that every distribution channel works toward common goals. Our teams are more aligned, accountable, and focused on performance than ever before, and 2026 will reflect the strength of that coordination,” he explains.
Digital tools, including platforms for workflow visibility, sales monitoring, customer communication and service tracking, will play a growing role in enabling faster decision-making, improved accuracy, and stronger predictability of outcomes. HNBGI’s leadership also intends to further extend digital enablement to frontline teams, ensuring that response times, approvals, and customer interactions continue to accelerate.
A Cohesive Push for Branch Distribution & Bancassurance Channel
HNBGI’s distribution network enters 2026 as a central enabler of its strategic ambitions. The organisation continues to invest in the strength, discipline, and clarity of its sales force while improving service consistency across all customer touchpoints. This includes a renewed focus on productivity, talent development, and clearer performance expectations at every level.
The company’s branch network, which continues to expand through the traditional model, the strategic franchise model, and a set of incubators, remains a key driver of reach and market presence. These incubators are designed to nurture emerging markets, build early-stage business potential and strengthen distribution depth in developing regions.
Prasanna Wijesinghe, Deputy General Manager of Branch Network and HNB Bancassurance, underscores the importance of frontline performance. “Our branch network is a strategic asset that allows us to deliver meaningful accessibility and personalised service. Strengthening the banca channel, both through deeper integration with HNB and our network of non-HNB bancassurance partners, will be essential for regional expansion and unlocking new customer segments,” he says.
By advancing frontline capability, improving regional coordination, and sharpening customer service quality, HNBGI aims to elevate its national footprint into a fully synchronised network working toward shared commercial targets, rather than operating through isolated geography-based structures.
Corporate, Takaful & Direct Channels
HNBGI’s Corporate, Takaful, and Direct sales channels form another major pillar of the company’s growth strategy. These units manage a significant share of the company’s high-value business and are positioned for accelerated growth through tailored solutions, strengthened value propositions and deeper client engagement.
A key priority for 2026 is the strengthening of HNBGI’s corporate sales capability through enhanced digital enablement. This includes new tools that improve client profiling, automate routine processes, enhance quotation accuracy, and provide sharper visibility on pipeline movement, allowing corporate teams to respond faster and deliver higher advisory value.
Hifly Huzair, Deputy General Manager of Corporate and Takaful, highlights the channel’s evolving direction. “Corporate clients demand reliability, customised solutions and responsiveness. By strengthening our Takaful offering, expanding our advisory approach and enabling our teams with technology, we will be able to deliver greater precision, efficiency and long-term relationship value — and confidently move into new sectors in 2026,” he says.
The Direct channel, which plays an important role in customer retention and relationship management, will continue to enhance its service interfaces, improve personalisation, and reinforce engagement with high-value customer groups.
Broker & Financial Institution Channel (Brokers, Leasing Companies & Third-Party Partners)
HNBGI’s broker and financial institution partners remain a significant contributor to both portfolio diversification and high-value business expansion. This channel includes national and regional broker firms, major leasing companies, and a network of third-party service providers who support assessments, repairs, technical services, and claims fulfilment.
Asanka Seneviratne, Deputy General Manager of Broker Management, notes the opportunity for deeper collaboration in 2026. “Our broker and financial institution partnerships are essential to strengthening high-value business acquisition, expanding specialist segments, and enabling broader distribution reach across the country. We plan to strengthen response mechanisms, build more structured support systems, and deepen engagement to help partners deliver faster, more competitive service to their clients,” he explains.
In 2026, HNBGI will continue to prioritise speed, clarity, and reliability across this channel, recognising that brokers and financial institutions directly influence customer experience at critical service points. The company’s nationwide operational capabilities, combined with improved partner responsiveness, are expected to translate into stronger acquisition and retention across key segments.
A Unified Direction for 2026
Across the full distribution network, HNBGI is entering 2026 with a clear strategic direction: stronger alignment, faster response, and deeper engagement.
Wickramarachchi summarises the company’s position: “We are entering a year of aligned commercial goals and more connected operations. Our focus is growth with discipline, clarity of execution, and offering customers an improved experience across every channel. As we move forward, we extend our sincere appreciation to our customers, partners, intermediaries, and all stakeholders for their continued confidence in HNBGI. Their trust, collaboration and support remain vital to our progress, and we look forward to strengthening these partnerships as we pursue our goals for 2026 and beyond.”
With responsible risk management, coordinated nationwide distribution, and disciplined operational execution, HNBGI is well positioned to deliver sustainable, balanced and resilient growth in the year ahead.