Global reinsurers are at the forefront of initiatives to better understand the impact of coronavirus on global morbidity and mortality rates. Their understanding of the disease, its transmission mechanisms, and the outlook for coronavirus therapies, treatments, and vaccines is growing with each passing month; but while the first wave offers clear insights into mortality outcomes, we may have to wait some time before the morbidity trends emerge. Dr Andreas Armuss, Chief Medical Officer of Asia, Pacific, Middle East, and Africa at Munich Re, updated a group of Munich Re clients on the latest findings during a webinar held 28 July 2020.

There are still thousands of South African investors and savers who are trapped in legacy retirement annuities (RAs), unable to switch to something more appropriate for the 21st Century due to the punitive exit penalties built into the product by life insurers. To make matters worse, most of these products have produced dismal net returns, spanning decades. Savers are damned if they take the exit penalty on the chin to set off on a product replacement journey, and equally damned if they stay in the RA to its term. We thought to muse on the topic of RA replacements after commenting on a LinkedIn post that drew dozens of insights from irate annuitants, financial advisers, and CFP®s.