Lireas - celebrating 25 years of successful partnerships

In 1988, the focus on insurance specific investments came about with Lireas’ foray into underwriting management agencies. 25 years later, Lireas looks back at the journey it has walked in the UMA space which has given us many reasons to celebrate, within and outside the group.

As a pioneer of the UMA concept in South Africa, Lireas is proud to have played a part in the birth of some of the largest and most successful UMAs in the market. In celebrating these achievements, we also look back at the value that the agency model has added to the insurance industry, as well as the wider economy.

 

UMAs by their nature are entrepreneurial businesses which have brought together insurance specialisation, expertise, innovation, responsiveness and superior service delivery along with entrepreneurship. Other downstream benefits to the wider economy include the numerous jobs that our agencies have created directly and indirectly over the years, giving us a great sense of pride at the contribution we have made to the economy.

 

While our philosophy and approach to doing business creates a conducive and attractive environment for successful partnerships, we owe our success to our UMA partners as well as our shareholders Hannover Re and Mahogany Private Equity.

 

Hannover Re has provided the brand and credibility we need in the market as well as the reinsurance capacity and long-term partnership support required for UMA business. Mahogany brings private equity discipline and sound business knowledge to the partnership along with valued black economic empowerment credentials.

Our journey and experiences with UMAs have seen us starting greenfield agencies as well as acquiring and merging existing UMAs in our portfolio with others in the market where the opportunities were beneficial to our UMAs and our group.

When our UMAs succeed, Lireas succeeds, and we applaud the successful and mutually beneficial relationships that our UMA partners have built with the broker community and their risk carriers over the years.

 

Lireas has actively supported the UMA model for 25 years now having been involved with more than 40 UMAs over this period, and we have many experiences and lessons to share. We have a unique model in the South African market that affords UMAs a number of business advantages and flexibility which can be accessed quite efficiently via Lireas.

 

Lireas also provides access to a panel of experts on finance and accounting, actuarial, human resources, reinsurance, legal and compliance, strategy and marketing matters. We strongly believe in balancing entrepreneurial flair with sound corporate governance structures.

As passionate supporters of the UMA model we are looking forward to further development and growth in this model which at present contributes approximately 20% of the non-life insurance premium in South Africa. Whilst the multiple challenges facing the insurance industry are topics for discussion across the whole market, we are confident that the UMA model is sustainable and will continue to create and deliver the value that it does.

At Lireas we believe in people – every one of our businesses are run by partners that we truly believe in. These are the people that give their businesses the competitive edge to successfully transact in the insurance market. To all of our business partners, thank you for your loyal service, profitable business and friendship over the years. Lireas would simply not exist without you!