Broker industry showing support of Santam - voted best insurer in SA for the 4th year running

South Africa’s largest short-term insurer, Santam, has claimed the awards of Best Commercial Insurance and Best Personal Lines Insurance by independent brokers with Best Commercial Insurance been awarded to Santam for the fourth year running. This was an

“Strong partnerships with our brokers and maintaining a client centric approach to business have been critical in us retaining our leadership position in the short-term insurance industry,” says Edward Gibbens, executive head of broker distribution at Santam.

Santam has introduced a host of enhancements to many aspects of their value proposition over the last year, showing its continued commitment to the broker industry.

Santam’s true differentiators as an industry leader are:

- Santam have invested in 17 Drive-in Centres, with a target of 41 centres nation-wide.

- The introduction of its claims card saw the award ‘Best Corporate Prepaid Programme’ award at the 2011 Global Prepaid Awards in London for the innovative way in which Santam utilises prepaid card technology to pay its claims, providing convenience and choice to policyholders. “This programme has enabled us to create flexibility in our claims processed as well as rewarding policyholders for positive risk management behaviour which benefits the policyholder as well as Santam,” says Gibbens.

- Its commitment to operational effectiveness and the speed of claims handling is an important differentiator for the company. “Our new Claims segmentation model using analytics technology is helping to speed up claims that typically took at least three days to settle. Now legitimate claims can be settled within hours,” says Gibbens. Last year, Santam paid R10.8bn in claims pay-outs.

- The alternative glass offering on motor insurance waives the traditional excess, putting money back in the hands of the motorist.

- Later this year, Santam will also introduce the automation of annual premium adjustments for its Personal Lines policy-holders on motor car insurance. “Consumers have been asking for this and we are confident it will go a long way to providing them with real value,” says Gibbens.

“These awards have always been an important yardstick for Santam to determine how we are measured in our industry. We are proud and encouraged to receive these awards once again. Brokers have always been a key part of the success of our business and will continue to be a vital component for Santam to maintain its position as the market leader,” concludes Gibbens.