Banking & Insurance

As email inboxes and WhatsApp groups clutter up with advice of how to cope with COVID-19, I suggest three simple questions to help guide consumers in these unprecedented times. The best way to reduce premiums during lockdown – without abandoning cover altogether - is to reassess risk exposures and adjust cover accordingly.  

We have released the latest 2019 South African Customer Satisfaction Index for Short-Term Insurance. There is a fallacy across many businesses that digital transformation and customer experience and satisfaction are interchangeable. They are not. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa presented the five-level, risk-adjusted strategy that will guide South Africa’s emergence from lockdown. As the finer points of the strategy were shared, it became clearer how - and when - certain sectors will once again gear up into activity.

TransUnion reports that consumer credit extension in South Africa is currently around R1.8 trillion, with approximately 9% of this debt at least three months in arrears. In addition, around 45% of the approximately 22.5 million credit-active consumers have impaired credit records.

Consumer concerns related to COVID-19 including fears of being infected by the coronavirus while attending to their banking matters and stress related to debt issues have come to our attention. In response to President Ramaphosa’s address on the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, we urge consumers to remain calm and to follow the stringent measures in place to protect both themselves and their families. 

As the number of confirmed Coronavirus COVID-19 cases rise every day in South Africa, many people are wondering whether they’ll get adequate medical attention should they be diagnosed with the virus.

If you haven’t already dusted off the business interruption, liability and event cancellation policies you have underwritten, or placed for an insured, and checked for coronavirus coverage, now is the time to do so.  

The circular released on the 10th April 2020 by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) entitled 'COVID-19 Medical Schemes Industry Guidelines' outlines the relief measures which schemes may offer their members – individuals and employer groups – detailing what they can and can’t do to alleviate the economic suffering during this pandemic and lockdown period.

The next few weeks (and beyond) will be a testing time particularly for smaller businesses. Best to see it as a stress test, a way to make your business stronger.

In response to the COVID-19 emergency, the South African Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) and the South African financial sector regulators, the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), have implemented several mitigation measures to support the economy and companies.