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South African Insurance Association

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From the Desk of the Chief Executive- SAIA Bulletin September 2019

At SAIA we believe that the SAIA Monthly Bulletin is a platform of paramount importance not only for SAIA, but also for the non-life insurance industry at large. Through this platform, SAIA will continue to deliver valuable and current information about our initiatives and any other issues that impact the non-life insurance industry. Our September issue covers several industry issues of pertinence to the industry and its sustainability such as the SAIA Insurance Risks, Transformation, Governance projects as well as some initiatives that come directly out of my office.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mr Cedric Masondo, Managing Director at Sasria (SOC) Ltd who was elected as the new SAIA Board Chairman and Herman Schoeman, Chief Executive Officer at Guardrisk Group (Pty) Ltd who was elected as Deputy Chairman on 3 September 2019. Both Mr Masondo and Schoeman have served on the SAIA Board for years and I am sure that the industry will benefit immensely from their continued guidance and knowledge. A big thank you goes to Lize Lambrechts who served the industry for the past four years as the chair of the SAIA Board.

One of the industry highlights in the month of September was the launch of the Business for Road Safety Forum’s (BRS) Road Safety Pledge. At the launch the Department of Transport and its various agencies pledged their full support to the initiative which was founded by SAIA. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the Administration Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill into law and SAIA stands in support of the Department of Transport (DoT), Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) in their efforts towards road law enforcement for the purpose of creating safer roads.

On the Transformation front, a lot of progress has been made even though a lot more is yet to be achieved. Transformation remains a key focus area for the non-life insurance industry, however the process of gathering industry data remains a challenge. This prompted the SAIA Board to expedite the approval of a section in the SAIA Code of Conduct which makes it a requirement for our members to report on various key areas of transformation that include procurement. Members are urged to supply this transformation data as it is a critical element of SAIA’s work to assist industry transformation. Our first attempt at collecting this data has kicked off with procurement data, both in the motor and non-motor space. We believe that such industry data will give us an opportunity to substantiate our discussions around our commitment towards transformation.

Skills challenges are increasingly becoming an area of concern for the industry, especially the lack of skills bridging initiatives for senior management. The Department of Labour has introduced the proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act and targets for the financial sector. As an industry body, SAIA takes this seriously and has begun engaging its peers and other relevant stakeholders to explore avenues through which this skills gap could be addressed. On another front also discussed in this Bulletin, SAIA together with the FIA and SAUMA have reached a temporary arrangement with the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to exempt the members of the institutions from its current provision that requires them to be Accountable Institutions under the FIC Act.

Lastly, SAIA will be hosting its CEO Roundtable 2019 on 3 October 2019, at the FNB Conference Centre in Sandton. All member CEOs and MDs have been invited to attend the event where they will have an opportunity to engage with each other and members of the SAIA Board on issues of pertinence to SAIA and the industry at large. These will include key focus areas in Insurance Risks as well as Transformation as agreed to in the SAIA Board approved strategy for 2019 to 2021.

Viviene Pearson
SAIA Chief Executive