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Federal Pacific Insurance and Finance (Fedpac) operations in the Kingdom of Tonga celebrated 20 years of service at a cocktail event in the capital Nukualofa.
The celebration was held at Taufa’ahau Budling and attended by the Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, members of Cabinet, government officials, private sector partners and Fedpac Customers.
The Hon Prime Minister gave the key address of the evening touching on the company’s on-going operations and its support of sport, education and tourism initiatives in the Kingdom.
The Prime Minister congratulated the company for continuing to operate despite the many challenges of the last few years and encouraged the company to expand Tonga operations to other islands in the Group.
He issued a challenge to the company to keep growing and bringing a Pacific-grown company to look after the unique insurance and finance needs of the region.
Group Spokesperson and General Manager for Fedpac Insurance, Namulau’ulu Papalii Sami Leota told guests the event was an important milestone for Tonga Operations to celebrate.
“The Group had related companies operating in Tonga since 1994, however Finance and Insurance services began in 2004 with only four staff, but today we have over 25 team members which is a testament to the growth of the Company,” he said.
Country Manager – Fedpac Insurance, Mele Saini Latu said the company has had its share of challenges since establishment, some good and bad times, but the company had weathered them due to the strong partnership between the local team and Regional Support and strong Re-Insurance arrangements.
“We have learned many things in the past 20 years, and we can say that we gained experience and understanding of the communitys’ finance and insurance needs but most importantly, we have various types of risks both in Government and Private sector business.
Federal Pacific Finance is the largest private non-bank finance institution providing small to medium credit opportunities for Tongan people and Tongan businesses.
The Finance branch is run locally by Stanley Mafoa and his hard-working team.
Namulau’ulu said he was grateful that the companys’ claims ability was tested and completed within this period, including four cyclones, a tsunami, volcanic eruption, floods and a riot, as well as the normal claims.
“These claims were put through our usual process and were settled quickly, thanks to the support of our Reinsurance and Regional Underwriting team”.
“Fedpac prides itself in the Pacific as a Company who handled, assessed and paid out all genuine claims promptly”, he said.
One of the biggest challenges Fedpac Insurance faces is to be able to secure good re-insurance treaties. Re-Insurance underwriters see the Pacific as high-risk zone, consequently many who had been writing business in the Pacific region had pulled out, or made terms very costly.
Namulau’ulu said the company has been able to maintain the support of reinsurance underwriters (e.g. Lloyds of London, PWS East Asia) that the company has dealt with from the start and maintains a strong partnership.
“We are grateful to the Government of Tonga for their support of our operations in this beautiful country, when we proposed our business all those years ago, we pledged that we came to stay with the goal of offering alternative and competitive Insurance and Finance products and we are happy to report that is exactly what we continue to do,” said Namulau’ulu.
Namulau’ulu also acknowledged the hard work of the Country Managers, Mele Saini Latu and Stanley Mafoa (Finance) and the dedicated team of local staff.
He was joined at the celebrations by Fedpac General Manager, Fuimaono Malcolm Johnston and Country Manager, Ford Hyundai Samoa, Simon Fruean.
Fedpac Insurance and Finance began trading in Apia in 1999 and have since set up offices in Tonga, Cook Islands, Timor Leste, Fiji and Vanuatu with support provided by Regional HO in New Zealand and London. The company continues to look for more opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Namulau’ulu acknowledged the FPG Board of Directors for support given and in particular, Chairman Papalii Alan Hutchison in continuing to pursue the vision of his late father, and Group Founder Alistair Hutchison.
Hon Prime Minister Remarks.
Distinguished Guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I’m pleased to be here at this evening’s event and to add my congratulations to Federal Pacific Insurance and Finance for reaching this milestone of your operations in Tonga.
Doing business in any country is always a challenge, in Tonga we also have our own unique challenges in doing business, so reaching 20 years of service is no small feat.
Over the past 20 years, Tonga has faced many daunting challenges and as a consequence, we have changed in many ways.
The pressures on our economy brought on by the COVID pandemic and natural disasters such as the tsunami and volcanic eruption were some of the major ones. We have been obliged to change, to become more adaptable to fast changing circumstances for good and bad and to become more resilient in every area of our society.
No one was left untouched by the 2006 riots, the COVID pandemic or the natural disasters that followed. In continuing to operate, businesses such as Federal Pacific Insurance and Finance gave the public some peace of mind in difficult times.
I’m sure the insured public (both business and domestic) would have benefitted from your policies, risk cover and subsequent claims payouts.
I am also mindful of the evolving global challenges, especially those posed by climate change, which will affect insurance premiums.
From the Governments’ perspective, we encourage companies to establish themselves in Tonga for the numerous benefits it has for our people. In particular job creation and economic growth.
At the same time we also make sure that we encourage the private sector growth by creating a friendly environment to operate in, as there is no doubt the private sector is the Governments’ biggest partner and is often referred to as the “engine of growth”.
I was told that you started with four (4) staff members but you now have well over 25 staff and operate not only in Tongatapu but also in Vavau. Its good that you have expanded your service to Vavau but I hope that you will also reach out to the residents of the other islands.
I note you have also been supporting the Tonga Community through sponsorship in Rugby, Education and Tourism. I encourage your company to continue doing that as that is where your blessings are from.
The test of any insurance company is the payment of claims, so if you are still here after 20 years it means that the insured public is benefitting from your service.
Federal Pacific Finance is the largest private non-bank finance institution providing small to medium credit opportunities for Tongan people and Tongan businesses.
Many members of our community have used this facility over the past 20 years. Thank you Federal Pacific Finance.
I understand that you have offices around the Pacific with an office recently opened in Vanuatu. My challenge to your company is to keep growing because we are in a unique part of the world and we take great pride that we have a Pacific-grown company looking after our insurance and finance needs.
To end I would like again to Congratulate your Chairman, Papaliitele Alan Hutchison and Management, and especially your Tonga staff for reaching 20 years of Service and may the Good Lord continue to bless your Company.
Malo aupito and Faafetai tele Lava..
