Sri Lanka risk rating seen covering factors outside war

Mar 17, 2010 (LBO) - Getting Sri Lanka a more favourable insurance risk rating involves not just the absence of war but other factors like media freedom and corporate governance, officials and analysts said. Altogether, 48 'risk factors' are covered in Aegis' rating model which also considers criminal risk like corruption, crime, law enforcement and intellectual property theft.

Human rights, child labour, poverty, labour flexibility, pollution, climate change, ecological footprint and raw material security are also included in the factors considered when an assessment is made to set an insurance risk level.

Aegis says in a rating report that its analysts evaluate future trends in all risk factors alongside the risk score with the model relying on human judgement rather than being a mechanical process.

"The position maintained by the JWC and the JCC on Sri Lanka is that the overall risk level has come down," said Walter Rodrigo, GAC Shipping director for P&I (Protection & Indemnity).

Rodrigo, a member of a government team that lobbied London underwriters during a visit in December, said that establishing Sri Lanka as a risk free country would help draw more foreign investors.

Sri Lan