From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

Peseti Ma’afu’s dream of an Insurance Centre for Tonga is becoming a reality after he was appointed as the first General Agent for Colonial Life Insurance in Tonga on August 18.

Peseti said that with his group of companies, Peseti Ma’afu Insurance and Finance Ltd, APEX Insurance Brokers Ltd., and Ma’afu and Associates, it was now possible “to offer any insurance policies, Shipping, Property, Medical, Life, you name it, we can get it.”

Peseti said that the entry of Colonial to Tonga offered a new dimension to insurance coverage. “For a start they will concentrate on Life Insurance, Full Life, and Endowment Policies.  Endowment is just like savings, and the insurer can withdraw when the policy matures after 20 or so  years.

“Colonial has been in Fiji for 124 years, and they have a lot of potential. They would like to introduce to Tonga Health Care, Travel, Medical Evacuation and Superannuation,” he said.

Private Hospital

“They are in banking in Fiji and they are looking into banking here. They are completing a new private hospital in Fiji, equipped with the latest high tech medical equipment and staff with the best doctors that you can find anywhere, and they are also looking at doing the same here.” Peseti believed that it made sense to have a top notch private hospital in Tonga, “if you look at the huge amount of money that is spent every year to send people for treatment overseas. The demand is here, it is a matter of establishing a good hospital, and then bringing in the best doctors that we can find.”

Peseti said that his involvement with Colonial should not be confused with the service that he was offering for Grand Pacific. “The Agency for Grand Pacific in Tonga is Peseti Ma’afu Insurance and Finance Ltd, whereas the agent for Colonial is Ma’afu and Associates. APEX Insurance Brokers Ltd. deals with every insurance company in this country, excepting MMI. APEX is also the agent for a number of overseas companies, which offer a wide range of products.”

Peseti said that it had been his dream ever since he became involved in insurance in 1982 to make as many insurance policies as possible available to the people of Tonga. He said that there were a lot of advantages for insurers to use a broker. “They will get a better deal because we will provide them with a number of options to chose from, and when there is a claim it is easier for us to pressure the insurance company to pay, rather than if the individual insurer will deal directly with the company. If the claim is, say $5000, the insurance company would rather lose a one year premium of $300 than to pay out $5000.”