Banking & Insurance

The R7.1million claim that was recently filed against Woolworths, after a customer stumbled and fell over a packing crate, once again brings the growing liability risks faced by South African businesses into focus. Personal injury claims are increasing in severity with each passing year. Looking at our own statistics, the average intimated values for personal injury (slip-and-trip) claims have risen from R172,600 to R270,690 between 2016 and 2018.

Banning health insurance options and scrapping the move to introduce affordable medical scheme cover demonstrates a flagrant disregard for individuals' rights to enter into voluntary private contracts to protect themselves from unforeseen out-of-pocket payments when catastrophe strikes.

Digital and mobile technology is continually evolving and advancing, creating new ways to pay; from mobile wallets to peer-to-peer to digital currency, the modern payments landscape has evolved past simply cards and cash. Consumers, eager to adopt these new ways to pay, are changing their purchasing habits to meet these emerging methods.

Speaking in KwaZulu-Natal on New Year’s Day, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that the National Health Insurance (NHI) will put private and public hospitals on par with each other. Indeed, rather than improving the quality of care on offer in the public sector, it’s more likely that, by effectively nationalising them, the NHI will reduce the quality of care at private facilities. 

Following the recently announced rules from the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) to reduce the maximum value of cheque limits to R50,000, businesses are urged to adopt electronic banking channels.

South Africa has significantly more financial crime than most other countries. With a rate of 77% compared to a global average of 49%, SA is something of a hotbed for fraud and scams. As consumers and insurance-seekers we need to understand the risks of economic crime and how to avoid becoming a victim, the risks of committing insurance fraud and how to avoid being inadvertent perpetrators of fraud ourselves, by for example, omitting information in an insurance application

The severity of risks in the liability space have increased two-fold – not only is the frequency of litigation on the rise, but exposures related to professional error have also increased. This is mainly due to factors relating to the poor economy and a skills deficit.

Recently released statistics has revealed a sharp upsurge in kidnappings in South Africa. This comes while news of the rescue of high-profile kidnapping victim, Sandra Moonsamy, is still fresh in South Africa’s collective memory. Official police statistics show that kidnapping cases have increased by 139 percent over the past decade, with opportunistic abductions accounting for the greatest number of incidents.

John Bercow, the speaker of the United Kingdom parliament, was recently referred to by a reporter as “the marmite speaker”. The expression was developed, originating in the UK, using marmite as an adjective to mean you either love it or hate it (or them) – but cannot be indifferent to it.

Debt relief for the most vulnerable in society is crucial, but the National Credit Amendment (NCA) Act will not achieve this. The extremely high rate of over-indebtedness among South Africans is well documented. The seriousness of the situation is well reflected in the headline to an article last year in the Economist: “In South Africa, more people have loans than jobs”.