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BL Premium reports that SA life insurers paid out more than half-a-trillion rand in benefit claims in 2020 as Covid-19 took a heavy toll. Claims and benefit payments to life cover policyholders rose 6.5% to R522.7bn in 2020, up from the previous year’s R491bn, according to long-term insurance statistics released by the Association for Savings & Investment SA (Asisa) on Monday.
The total claims and benefit payments included retirement annuity and endowment policy benefits as well as claims against life, disability, critical illness and income-protection policies. Asisa’s figures showed that the life industry recorded 434,216 death claims in 2020, or almost 37% more than the 317,442 claims received in 2019. More than half of the death claims in 2020 were for funeral policies (266,321) while the rest were for life policies, credit life policies and other policies providing life cover. The increase in death claims “is not only related to Covid-19, it’s just a general increase”, Hennie de Villiers, deputy chair of Asisa’s life and risk board committee, indicated. There were some Covid elements in it “but it’s not only that”. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen insurers such as Momentum Metropolitan and Old Mutual increase their provisions for claims related to the virus. Even so, Asisa says the life insurance industry remains healthy as it has more than double the legally required capital buffer in place.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Garth Theunissen at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page