Private sector healthcare funds will have a role to play in the government-backed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme because the government cannot finance the system on its own, according to the chief director of health and social development at the Treasury, Mr Mark Blecher.
South Africa's long-term insurance industry concluded 2024 with assets under management of ZAR4.5tn ($230bn) and a healthy solvency buffer of almost double the Prudential Authority's solvency capital requirement.
Headquartered in Cape Town, Santam Group has announced a net income attributable to equity holders of ZAR3.68bn ($201.07m) for 2024, 13% higher than in 2023.
Half of the respondents to a survey by the life insurer 1Life acknowledge that life insurance is a tool for wealth generation, which is a crucial step toward financial security.
The Council for Medical Schemes has recommended that Medical Aid schemes in the country limit their price increases in 2025 to 4.4% plus reasonable utilisation estimates, notes WTW, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company.
Sanlam Life Insurance (Sanlam Life), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanlam Limited (Sanlam), the non-operating holding company of the Sanlam group, has been assigned a Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of 'A-' (Excellent) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of 'a-' (Excellent) by AM Best. The outlook assigned to these credit ratings is 'Stable'.
Insurers are aware that their legacy products are becoming an increasing cost burden relative to the value they provide to the insurance company and the customer as the book shrinks, according to a report released by global professional services firm Deloitte.
Living annuity policyholders withdrew, on average, 6.6% of their invested capital as income in 2023, the lowest average living annuity drawdown rate recorded in the past five years.
The number of insurance fraud incidents in South Africa has increased, with two concerning trends emerging in recent years that are murder for insurance payouts and deceased estate fraud, according to Mr Jean van Niekerk, convenor of the Forensic Standing Committee of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA).
The South African government is exploring options for purchasing insurance for certain climate-related disaster events, where such a practice would not undermine Budget sustainability.