MUA announces exciting strategic partnership with Telesure

MUA Insurance Acceptances, the specialist underwriter focused on the High Net Worth (HNW) personal lines market, has entered into an agreement with Telesure Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Telesure) to underwrite on behalf of Auto and General Insurance Company Ltd, one of its licenced insurance companies, effective 01 January 2014.

Telesure Investment Holdings is one of the largest insurance groups in South Africa and is widely admired for never having made an underwriting loss in its history. The group owns and operates several of South Africa’s leading insurance brands, including Auto & General (winner of the Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance Award in 2011); 1st for Women Insurance (voted as the Top Insurance Brand in the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards in 2010), and long-term insurer, 1Life, among others. Telesure is owned by Budget Holdings Limited (BHL), which operates in the UK, South Africa, Australia, France, Turkey and the Netherlands.

MUA has enjoyed a successful partnership with Compass Insurance Company Limited ("Compass Insurance”) since 2009, and thanks Compass Insurance for their wonderful support during that time, says Christelle Fourie, Managing Director of MUA.

The new partnership with Auto & General is mutually beneficial, with MUA standing to benefit from Auto & General’s highly advanced technological systems, economies of scale with regards to procurement and access to innovative underwriting techniques. Auto & General on the other hand gains access to a previously unexplored market segment, says Fourie.

She highlights that in the luxury brands market it is not unusual for high-end brands to leverage from larger volume brands to take advantage of economies of scale.

"A great example of this is the Volkswagen Group which has part or full ownership of a number of luxury passenger cars manufactures including Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsche, among others. The MUA and Auto & General partnership is based on a similar concept to allow the MUA brand to grow and offer a better service to its customers by leveraging from Auto & General.”

The partnership, however, will not result in any operational changes at MUA – it will still be business as usual, says Fourie.

"The underwriting and claims decision making process remains firmly with the MUA management team, which will continue to have the same underwriting and claims handling mandate as before. Most importantly, brokers will still deal directly with MUA; our brokers are our partners and will remain firmly the focal point for MUA because we recognise the integral role they play in the success of our business.”

Leon Vermaak, Chief Executive Officer of Auto & General, says the company is extremely excited to enter into an agreement with such a well-respected and sophisticated business.

"Traditionally, Auto & General has played in the middle market segment, so the opportunity to explore the premium market is very exciting. MUA is the perfect partner, with its market leading expertise and experience within the HNW individual personal lines insurance market.”

Valerie Hayter, Managing Director of Lireas Holdings (Pty) Ltd – a subsidiary of Hannover Reinsurance Africa - says that Lireas’ and Christelle Fourie’s commitment to MUA as shareholders remains unchanged.

"Lireas is fully supportive and excited at the potential the partnership with Auto & General will bring to MUA. Having just celebrated a successful 25 year partnership with MUA, we hope to add another 25 years to our long standing relationship.”

Fourie notes that it is important to highlight that brokers and policyholders will also benefit from the newly formed partnership.

"MUA can now make use of Auto & General’s technological capabilities and procurement benefits. One of the main driving factors in determining insurance premiums, is the ability to manage the cost of repairs and procurement. This is done by and large through the bulk buying power of the risk carrier. Through this partnership, MUA will have access to substantial cost saving initiatives which will translate ultimately into insurance premiums savings for the policyholder.”

"We are very excited about the new opportunities for growth that the partnership with Auto & General will bring MUA, while at the same time, becoming Auto & General’s specialists in the high end market,” concludes Fourie.