Latest news with #Sasria
Bloomberg
30-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
South African State Insurer Builds $1.1 Billion Buffer for Riots
South Africa's state-owned risk insurer, which the government bailed out so it could meet claims stemming from riots four years ago, has built up a 20 billion-rand ($1.1 billion) buffer to safeguard its finances in the event of anticipated future unrest. Sasria SOC Ltd. had to pay out about 32 billion rand following the July 2021 turmoil in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces and turned to the state for 22 billion rand to meet its obligations. Some 354 people died in the upheaval, which was triggered by former President Jacob Zuma's imprisonment on contempt charges and tapped into widespread discontent over unemployment and poverty.
TimesLIVE
11-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
'I'm inspired': Radio jock Pabi Moloi bags SABC TV gig
The new reality series The Insurance Apprentice is set to shake up Thursday nights. Insurance has never looked this exciting. Viewers are in for a powerful blend of brains, ambition and drama with the launch of The Insurance Apprentice, airing every Thursday at 7pm on SABC3, starting on July 17. The high-stakes reality-style competition is headlined by Sasria and aims to spotlight the next generation of insurance industry leaders. Hosted by charismatic Pabi Moloi, the show promises eight gripping episodes packed with real-world insurance challenges, boardroom tension and career-defining moments. 'Hosting season 11 of The Insurance Apprentice is an exciting and rewarding experience,' said Pabi. 'Each episode gives me the chance to engage dynamic young professionals shaping the future of insurance. I'm inspired by their resilience and drive.' The Insurance Apprentice is no ordinary competition. Over the course of a week, 10 ambitious contestants will face a rigorous gauntlet of challenges designed to test their knowledge, leadership and innovation. Each task is rooted in real industry scenarios — with eliminations along the way as contestants vie for the title. 'This show breaks the mould,' said Muzi Dladla, executive manager: stakeholder management at Sasria. 'Sasria is proud to sponsor The Insurance Apprentice as it drives awareness, inspires the next generation and highlights the essential role insurance plays in building resilient economies.'
Zawya
09-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: Why the real estate insurance model must evolve?
The cost of insuring South Africa's built environment is more than a line item – it has become a systemic pressure point. As premiums climb year on year, the financial burden doesn't stop at landlords' doorsteps. It filters down to tenants, retailers and ultimately to every consumer navigating a shopping mall, in fact, every taxpayer. Jason Griessel, head of Cushman Wakefield BROLL Strategic Risk Services This isn't merely a sectoral squeeze. It's economic inefficiency. Escalating insurance costs inflate operating margins, strain competitiveness and threaten sustainability and growth. If resilience is the true measure of sustainability, then our current insurance paradigm is failing the test. When risk perception outpaces reality At the core of the issue is a global-local misalignment. South African risk is largely written by offshore reinsurers, primarily British and European syndicates, who apply models that often fail to reflect lived realities on the ground. Political unrest, for instance, triggered abrupt cover withdrawals in the past. Sasria stepped in, but at a long-term fiscal cost. This points to a deeper issue: perception is distorting price. With global reinsurers 'holding the pen', underwriting power lies far from the assets themselves. The outcome? Inflated premiums based more on global volatility sentiment than data-driven local risk profiles. Closed loops and captive markets This is exacerbated by little transparency and even less competition. Infrastructure assets are predominantly reinsured offshore, not due to lack of local capacity, but because entrenched relationships and legacy pathways dominate decision-making. Even real estate financing structures are part of the inertia. Banks often recommend, and can even mandate, insurer preferences, locking property owners into high-margin ecosystems that reward status quo over strategic review. With a captive market, innovation is muted and efficiency sidelined. When taxpayer-funded government buildings are included in this model, the call for transparency and data-driven risk profiles becomes more than financial, it becomes an ethical and fiscal imperative. Insurance as a strategic lever Cushman & Wakefield | BROLL modelling indicates there are achievable savings of 8% to12% in insurance premium expenditure through better communication, strategic alignment and more sophisticated data engagement. For a REIT paying, say, R80m in insurance premiums annually, that translates to R8,75m in year-one relief alone. In an economy constrained on every side, where more marketing promotions or parking revenue increases can only take you so far, insurance stands out as one of the last controllable costs for property. Yet most CFOs are hesitant to touch it. The fear of post-crisis blame looms large, and so a 'don't' fix it if it isn't broken' attitude ensures outdated models persist under the guise of prudence. So, how do we break the cycle? Unless we challenge the model, we remain bound by it. Change starts with asking some tough questions: - Why aren't we diversifying our reinsurance sources, for instance into Asia, to inject competitive pressure? - Why do we accept decades-old syndicate defaults without contest? - Why has the sector resisted innovation in data and risk structuring? These questions are calls to action. We're not suggesting burning bridges, but we are endorsing building better ones. The real estate insurance of the future must be data-forward, enabling and locally aligned. There's a valuable opportunity for leading landlords to redefine risk as a strategic enabler, and shift insurance to a board-level conversation rather than an admin expense. For those still in wait-and-see mode, consider this: regulatory tightening, investor scrutiny or another market shock could force change faster than you're ready for. Those who act quickly will do more than save millions, they'll be pioneering a smarter, fairer way to price, share, and manage risk across South Africa's built environment.
