Explore the Category

Creating ambassadors for South Africa’s non-life insurance industry since 2015

30 August 2021

There is something about being in a near permanent state of lockdown that changes our experience of space and time. Not only have our personal environments shrunk, becoming tiny subsets of the areas that we roamed pre-pandemic, but the months and years now race by in a day-to-day rinse and repeat cycle. Every next day has become a carbon copy of its yesterday, for some 510 days and counting…

On fluffy ponies, purple unicorns, virtual love and other crypto craziness

16 August 2021

The world of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has delivered more than its share of laugh-out-loud and what-the-fluff moments in the past months. My most recent fall-off-the-chair-laughing moment came courtesy this gem of a headline on News24: ‘Fugitive SA crypto developer ‘Fluffypony’ arrested in the US’. I challenge you, dear reader, to recite that out loud without laughing. It is not my intention to waste column inches on why someone might go by the nom de plume Fluffypony, and my only objective in sharing this headline was to illustrate that anything dealing with crypto, no matter how inane, is considered newsworthy these days. (You may wish to read the Fin24 article, which includes reference to ‘Cape Cookies’ for extra laughs.)

Trust… Make or break for brokers, insurer and UMAs

02 August 2021

Brokers, insurers and underwriting management agencies (UMAs) have their work cut out to rebuild trust relationships with their clients following the often disappointing insurance outcomes during the pandemic year. Doug Laburn, Executive Head of Lombard Partnerships, told the audience at the 2021 SAUMA Conference that the industry had suffered “extreme trust erosion” due to the handling of various obligations arising from Covid-19. “Trust underpins our industry; but we emerged from 2020 less trusted than we were before, which is a real pity,” he said. Lombard was commenting during a discussion about UMA relationships within the broader insurance market, held as part of the 2021 SAUMA Conference.

‘Brokers’ note: Your clients want to buy risk cover’

05 July 2021

The real-world experiences of clients and financial advisers are not always aligned to the advertising and promises made by the country’s leading financial services brands. This writer endured more than a few hiccups during the extended Covid-19 lockdown… Issues crept in despite countless reports (in fact I wrote a few articles myself) in which executives at asset managers, banks and insurers claimed: “everything was going swimmingly”. Banks are legend for underperforming in all matter’s customer service; but we were surprised at the shoddy service we received from a leading life insurer too. Both our direct approach via the brand’s website and subsequent digital interactions with a broker left us uninspired and uninsured.

quick poll

Question

Do you think short-term insurance broking will survive the AI plus humanoid robotics age?

Answer

Human first always Not a chance Possibly maybe Yes, but reimagined

View the Results

Insurers manage to navigate through COVID-19

24 June 2021

An update on the regulatory front

17 June 2021

D&O cover crucial during tough economic times

31 May 2021

The R3 billion tax question

13 May 2021

Brokers be warned… Group risk premiums set for take-off

06 April 2021

FIA weighs in on NHI, healthcare brokers and medical schemes

02 March 2021

Can brokers fault the regulator’s BI view?

16 February 2021

Will brokers survive NHI?

02 February 2021

« ‹ 6 7 8

10 11 12 › »

Talked About Features / Straight Talk