2011 FIA awards winners announced

The winners of the annual Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA) Awards for 2011 were announced last night (Thursday 9 June 2011) at a gala ceremony held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

According to Brian van Flymen recently elected President of the FIA, the awards provide intermediaries with the opportunity to recognise the leading product suppliers in the financial services industry. “These awards are an important tool with which the intermediary industry is able to pay recognition to, and honour, those providers in the industry who provide excellent service to clients via the intermediary channel.”

Santam came out with top honours in two of the categories, winning short-term insurer of the year (Commercial) and short-term insurer of the year (Corporate) for the third consecutive time.

Short-term insurer of the year (Personal Lines) was awarded to Hollard, while Commercial and Industrial Acceptances (CIA) won the accolade of Underwriting Manager of the Year.

Independent research company Bluestream Research was appointed to conduct a customer satisfaction survey among the FIA’s members with the three main criteria being assessments of product quality, service quality and relationship quality.

Van Flymen says the full results are given to all product providers so they can determine how well they scored against the winner as well as benchmarking themselves against the industry average in each category. “We hope that product providers use this information to assist them in recognizing those areas in which they need to improve and those in which they are performing well.”

Below is the full list of 2011 winners: