Medscheme "firsts" pave way for transformation into fully-fledged financial services arena

Medscheme, South Africa's largest black-owned medical scheme administrator, has announced the launch of two market firsts - products designed to entrench the companys objective of establishing itself as the largest empowered healthcare and financial services group in South Africa.

"The launch of Medschemes Asset Management Strategic Healthcare Fund and the Medscheme Collective Investment Scheme is a strategic step towards the ultimate goal of broadening Medschemes value-added services by being able to offer institutional clients and customers a full range of financial products as well as healthcare solutions", said Lisa Gibbon, Managing Director of Medscheme Financial Services.

"The Strategic Healthcare Fund, under the auspices of Medscheme Asset Management, will offer medical schemes the opportunity to benefit from strategic investments in the healthcare market, enabling them to leverage off the growing healthcare industry which is driven primarily by medical scheme spending and now exceeds R50-billion per annum." Gibbon said.

"We believe that the launch of this investment opportunity will provide Medscheme's Asset Management clients with exciting investment opportunities and that it will also appeal to the healthcare industry as a whole," Dieter Briechle, Executive Director, Medscheme Asset Management. The Strategic Healthcare Fund will invest directly in listed entities on the JSE, concentrating specifically on equities which benefit directly and indirectly from healthcare spending. This will include a broad spectrum of companies and include hospitals, manufacturers and distributors of healthcare products, medical scheme administrators and suppliers into the broad spectrum of these businesses."

The second new product in the Medscheme Financial Services armoury is the Medscheme Collective Investment Scheme. To be formally launched in August 2007, the product provides an alternative to using life insurance investments as a savings vehicle.

"As its name implies, the Medscheme Collective Investment Scheme offers clients the opportunity to harness the power of collective saving through participation in a Unit Trust to help them achieve personal financial security. It is a broad-based financial vehicle which will also offer opportunities for corporate and higher-end clients."

"However, we believe that it will be particularly attractive to wage earners and people from the lower-end of the income spectrum who are seeking alternatives to long-term investments that are insurance based and are interested in participating in a Collective Investment Scheme which will assist them in the process of building personal wealth ," Gibbon said.

Medscheme has an enviable record of more than 35 years in healthcare as medical scheme administrators and will continue to develop and grow opportunities within this core area of expertise. Simultaneously, however, it would supplement this core focus by broadening access to innovative financial products and becoming recognised additionally as a financial services provider.

"The healthcare and financial services industries are dynamic, constantly changing environments. It is becoming increasingly important to develop products that meet the needs of clients who are now demanding products and services which lie outside the traditional scope of offerings."

"We believe that as a leading player in the healthcare arena and our inherent expertise within the financial sphere that our diversification into fully-fledged financial services will see us well placed to meet the present and future demands of South Africans," Gibbon concluded.

Featured below is Lisa Gibbon