Liberty comes 1st in University of Pretoria client satisfaction awards as “human inspired digital change” shifts expectations

Liberty has claimed the prestigious first place in the latest Customer Experience (CE) Index for life insurers, produced by CX Exchange in partnership with University of Pretoria.

The peak position was reached after what the insurer described as a commitment to “human inspired digital change” started paying off.

Last year it came in at 2nd place in the rankings.

This year’s first place was tied with another insurance industry player.
The UP CE Index describes itself as a scientifically validated measurement model that provides an industry benchmark and establishes a national standard for customer experience.

It examines key areas across the industry like customer expectations, quality of the experience, perceived value, loyalty behaviours and the emotional dimensions of customer experience.

The research was carried between August 2025 and March 2026.

The evolution of excellence
Liberty, which is part of the Standard Bank Group, puts its steady climb up the rankings down to sticking to three simple principles with its clients: Certainty, Simplicity and Humanity.

“We’ve been aiming to be the long-term insurer of choice for all South Africans by putting people first at their time of need,” says Rehalin Chetty, Liberty Client and Adviser Service Centre Head.

This was no easy task amid the complex requirements of the Index.

“When clients trust a provider with investments, retirement planning, protection needs or future claims, a problem rarely feels like a simple service failure. It tests whether the institution can respond when the relationship is under pressure,” says Professor Adré Schreuder, Head of the Industry Chair in Customer Experience at UP.

Chetty agrees with this observation: “As an insurer we want to be there wherever client’s finds themselves in their lives. Often these can be very stressful life situations where they are depending on us for assistance. Life insurance is a long term, trust-based offering where our clients and their loved ones are essentially entrusting us with their future and financial security.”

In particular, the insurer received a first place rating for its contact-centre operations which form the front-line in dealing effectively with client requests.

Bringing change
The extent of Liberty’s commitment can be seen in the fact that it paid out R12.63 billion in claims to tens of thousands of clients and their families during 2025.

The majority of claims came from the insurer’s retail flagship product, Lifestyle Protector, which paid out R7.79 billion to some 27 976 clients last year.

Amid all these client interactions, Liberty has been working to introduce many new efficiencies, focusing on digital innovation and even Artificial Intelligence based insights.

For example, financial advisers and their clients can submit claims online at any time. They are then updated automatically at every step of the way in the claims process through online client dashboards.

The insurer has now also fully automated funeral and death claims processes, as well as its Living Lifestyle claim processes to speed up payments.

This means clients are now receiving payouts faster than before. The success of this is seen in the insurer even paying some funeral and death claims in less than an hour and Living Lifestyle claims in under 24 hours.

Liberty uses a single point of contact to assist and guide clients through claims that sometimes can be related to difficult life events.

The insurer has also been using AI to streamline its processes; this speeds up claims and offers a more individual experience by bringing together unique data points that make interactions more efficient.

A deserved win
“The strongest insurers are those that can carry the same standard across advice, service, administration, claims communication, and support over the life of the policy,” says Prof Schreuder.

“Getting to the top of the University’s Customer Experience rankings is an extraordinary acknowledgement. It’s taken commitment and ongoing learning from our client experiences and this is something that we at Liberty intend to carry into the future,” says Chetty.

Liberty offers a range of life insurance solutions. These include life cover, disability and retrenchment cover, business cover and retirement planning.