Whether or not South Africa’s state-owned special risks insurer, Sasria SOC Limited, has a strong enough balance sheet to survive the country’s 11-16 July 2021 looting frenzy depends on the eventual price tag for loss and damage suffered by insured businesses and individuals during the chaos. The insurer’s MD, Cedric Masondo, is on record that Sasria will honour all claims stemming from the unprecedented civil commotion; but we got the feeling that his assessment of the capital and in-force reinsurance treaties available to compensate for damages may have been at the lower end of loss estimates. Around Wednesday, experts were talking about R7-10 billion but by the weekend we saw some estimates topping R50 billion.
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The real-world experiences of clients and financial advisers are not always aligned to the advertising and promises made by the country’s leading financial services brands. This writer endured more than a few hiccups during the extended Covid-19 lockdown… Issues crept in despite countless reports (in fact I wrote a few articles myself) in which executives at asset managers, banks and insurers claimed: “everything was going swimmingly”. Banks are legend for underperforming in all matter’s customer service; but we were surprised at the shoddy service we received from a leading life insurer too. Both our direct approach via the brand’s website and subsequent digital interactions with a broker left us uninspired and uninsured.
Read moreSouth Africa’s financial services regulators have hardly skipped a beat through lockdown and pandemic, working feverishly on amendments to existing rules and standards and putting the finishing touches to the country’s long-awaited Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill.
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The medical scheme environment is under pressure. Aside from downgrading, customers are complaining about their medical scheme cover, what is covered, what is not, the fees and out of pocket costs.
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