Current market conditions are challenging and product providers need to find new ways of delivering value for money. Those that are willing to be flexible will be the ones to stand the test of time.
This is the view of Craig Harding, managing director of Altrisk, who believes that his company's ability to simplify risk products has been the main reason for its success over the past 10 years.
Altrisk was started in 1999 by Dalene Allen and Nick Stern in partnership with Hollard Life and Hannover Re to provide life, disability and dread disease cover for impaired lives. They believed this gap in the market could be better serviced and used their underwriting and actuarial expertise to develop a new approach.
This approach was so successful that Altrisk became the first provider prepared to regularly offer cover to people with severe impairments, those with dangerous or unusual hobbies and those working in territories regarded as high risk areas. The company broke new ground in 1999 by introducing life cover for people living with HIV and AIDS.
As independent financial advisors began to realise that Altrisk's business philosophy of simplicity and underwriting approach were as appropriate for standard lives, its client base expanded rapidly. In September 2005, Altrisk acquired Hollard Broker Solutions to become the exclusive provider of individual life risk products within the Hollard Group. The company has never looked back.
Ongoing innovation has recently seen Altrisk introducing a new product, Trauma Plus, to provide financial assistance following traumatic events not covered by traditional policies. The company achieved another first by introducing a suicide exclusion recognising previous periods of in force life cover.
Harding says Altrisk's approach is well-defined. "The foundation is a philosophy of simplicity, which influences everything we do – we strive to make life easier for independent financial advisors by delivering outstanding service based on personal relationships. Then there are our products and benefits which are independently ranked as among the best on the market. Finally, our expertise in risk placement and underwriting means we will find solutions to individual challenges".
"We are also very clear about the way we take our products to market – through intermediaries – and have designed the business to support independent financial advisors sell our benefits to end-customers country-wide," he says. "In this way, we've been able to keep the company small, which makes us agile enough to respond to market needs quickly."
He says that Altrisk leverages the strengths of its larger partners to compete with more established players. He highlights the outstanding relationships the company has with the Hollard Group, which is the largest independent insurance company in South Africa, and Hannover Re, one of the leading reinsurance groups in the world, as examples.
With over 60 000 in force policies and sums insured of more than R120 billion, Altrisk has built a flourishing business by taking a new approach. The company continues to thrive despite the economic downturn.
"Although we believe that Altrisk has now come of age, we will continue to seek opportunities to enhance our offering and make life even easier for independent financial advisors. There are always opportunities to innovate within our industry ... those that do this will be tomorrow's leaders", concludes Harding.
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