By Andiswa Madolo
The South African Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria SOC Ltd) has so far received 100% of the 14051 claims , valued at R32 billion.
Out of all the received claims, R12,6 billion has been paid out by Monday, 15 November, with a target of settling eighty percent of claims up to R60 million by March 2022. Sasria reiterates its commitment to ensuring that all clients are fully back in business. The company’s target of processing all valid claims between six to eighteen months is on track, thus ensuring that an ideal outcome for all claims is reached within a reasonable period.
Sasria would like to extend its gratitude to the National Treasury for the additional R11 billion allocation as this would significantly contribute towards honouring clients’ claims and recapitalising the organisation. The company also extends its appreciation to the insurance industry for their overwhelming support. Many clients that suffered great loss were assisted to maintain their business operations and minimise the loss effect.
In terms of all claims received, the most in number and rand value came in the following order: fire commercial, heavy commercial vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and business interruption. Most claims were received in the under R1 million band, standing at 12050, with a total claim value of just over R2,259 billion. Cedric Masondo, Sasria’s Managing Director, said: “On these claims, our Agent Companies have been engaged and mandated to facilitate the claims. The Agent Companies have been given a float of over R2.6bn to settle claims within their mandate and to date have paid over R1.8billion and are on track to settle the remaining claims by the end of December.” He emphasized that the company would also endeavour to settle eighty percent of all claims by the end of the year.
While there has been commendable progress, Sasria acknowledges the challenges related to its capacity in the market, such as the internal capacity to manage large losses, overstretched Loss Adjusters, clients’ struggle with the formulation of claims, resulting in delays and policy interpretation.
In this regard, Sasria has curated solutions such as increasing mandates of some agent companies. “We have also increased our staff complement, and our broker network is helping clients with claims
formulation supported by our internal Underwriting and Legal team that have been hard at work with giving guidance and attending to policy interpretation matters,” said Masondo.
“Given significant shifts made by Sasria since July’s events, there have also been incidents of fraud and the inflation of claims. Therefore, we have made our Loss Adjusters the first gatekeepers, ensuring that claims reach Sasria and an internal team makes further rigorous assessments, in line with our standard quality control processes. There are also complementary controls led by reputable independent forensic auditors and an independent building moderation team,” he said.
Masondo reiterated that the company remains committed to building financial reserves, to fast-track its path to sustainability. “As we seek to future-proof Sasria against similar future incidents, we also aim to be a credible and trusted industry player,” he said, adding that “Our drive is to have social impact, be efficient and ethical. We are also an insurer that wants to be modern, thus consistently evolve with technology,” Masondo concludes.
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About Sasria
Sasria is a public enterprise listed under schedule 3B of the Public Finance Management Act No 1 of 1999. We are a non-life insurance company that provides coverage for damage caused by special risks such as politically motivated malicious acts, riots, strikes, terrorism and public disorders. Tel +27 11 214 0800 | 086 172 7742 | Fax +27 11 447 8630 | 086 172 7329 36 Fricker Road, Illovo 2196 | PO Box 653367, Benmore 2010 | Email contactus@sasria.co.za | Website www.sasria.co.za Sasria SOC Ltd: Reg No 1979/000287/06 | FSP License No: 39117
Our journey began over 40 years ago, after becoming inspired by courageous young people who shaped the course of history for South Africans through a series of demonstrations and protests known as the 1976 Soweto Uprising.
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For more information and media queries, contact:
Andiswa Madolo on andiswam@sasria.co.za