Self Reliance Verzekeringen N.V.

What it is

Self Reliance has been active since 1 November 1980 and has grown into a leading general insurer in Suriname’s commercial and personal market — without acquiring existing portfolios.

Its products span health, vehicle, travel, accident, fire, pension and funeral insurance, and it sells to individuals, businesses and government entities.

In December 2007 it launched a wholly owned life-insurance subsidiary, Self Reliance Levensverzekeringen N.V. The group also deploys a portion of its float — the cash float that every insurer sits on — as equity stakes in Hakrinbank, Finabank and De Surinaamsche Bank.

The company is listed on the Suriname Stock Exchange. Trading on that exchange happens only twice a month, on the first and third Thursday, so the shares are thinly traded by international standards.

Who owns it

The Surinamese state is not the majority shareholder but is the single largest owner, with 40%. The remaining 60% is spread across pension funds, companies, individual investors and other private parties.

The company has more than 2,800 shareholders in total, making it one of the more widely-held companies on the Surinamese exchange. No single private block-holder has been disclosed in available sources.

Who runs it

The current chief executive’s name is not disclosed in available sources. Maurice Roemer served as director of Self Reliance for many years before being appointed governor of the Central Bank of Suriname in February 2020.

The supervisory board (the oversight body above management) normally has six members: the state nominates two, and the remaining four are chosen by the wider shareholder base. Board chair Albert Jubitana is named in contemporaneous press coverage of the 2026 governance dispute.

The money, in plain words

Self Reliance does not publish its audited financial statements in a format accessible to the public via the exchange or its own website, so revenue, net profit, net margin, return on equity and the price-to-earnings ratio are not disclosed in available sources.

What is on record: the share price stood at SRD 100.00 (US$100)as of 22 June 2026. With roughly 1.97 million shares outstanding (our calculation from the paid-up capital of SRD 19,713 (US$20 k)at SRD 0.01 (US$0.01)nominal), the implied market value — the total price tag all shares carry — is approximately SRD 197 million (≈ US$197 million, our calculation).

Multiple Surinamese lawmakers have publicly described the company as profitable, which is notable given how few state-linked Surinamese companies make money.

What it is doing now

In May 2026 President Jennifer Simons moved to replace the independent members of the supervisory board at Self Reliance, triggering a sharp parliamentary reaction. Lawmakers found it baffling that the president would push to restructure one of the few state-linked companies that is actually profitable.

After the public backlash, President Simons reversed the decision on behalf of the state, withdrawing the request for the extraordinary shareholder meeting. The episode drew wider attention because Self Reliance is itself a major shareholder of De Surinaamsche Bank, meaning any governance instability could ripple through the broader financial system.

What to watch

• Governance clarity. Two state-nominated supervisory board members still await approval from the Central Bank of Suriname. Until that is resolved, the board’s composition remains in flux.
• Financial disclosure. The company publishes annual reports (its 2020 report is on its website) but they are not in a machine-readable format and recent figures are not publicly accessible; any move toward greater transparency would be the single biggest re-rating catalyst.
• Cross-holdings. Self Reliance participated in De Surinaamsche Bank’s 2018 share issue, building a meaningful stake; the health of the Surinamese banking sector therefore feeds directly into Self Reliance’s investment returns.
• State stake. At 40%, the government is large enough to call shareholder meetings but not large enough to outvote the rest of the register — the May 2026 episode showed exactly where that line sits.

This is news, not investment advice.