December 2024 Edition

South Africa keeps up its resilience

2023/24 showed a strong recovery with the non-life growing at about 16% and life at just over 10%. (KPMG survey October 2024).

My various discussions with industry leaders in 2024, plus feedback from our Annual Broker Survey, show increased positivity amongst underwriters and brokers alike, with both indicating growth exceeding 10% for
2024 and 2025.

On the reinsurance side, the Southern African market has faced significant challenges over recent years, including substantial insurance losses estimated at $30–40 million USD in 2023, coupled with associated economic losses far exceeding these figures. Despite these hurdles, promising developments have emerged, such as the adoption of parametric insurance, particularly in agriculture, and efforts to address new risks like cyber threats. These innovations have the potential to make the industry more resilient and inclusive, addressing critical issues like the gap between insured and economic losses. Institutions like ZepRe, through its ZepRe Academy, have played a crucial role in mitigating the persistent skills shortage by training over 22,000 professionals, highlighting the importance of skill-building initiatives in fostering market growth.

Looking ahead, the industry must focus on specialised fields such as parametric insurance and products tailored to agriculture, which remains a key economic driver but underinsured sector in Africa. Microinsurance also presents an opportunity to expand market penetration by offering cost-effective solutions to underserved communities. Collaboration among stakeholders, including governments and training institutions, is pivotal in addressing skills gaps and promoting innovation. As the market stabilises and renewals become more favorable, a culture of knowledge sharing and the rise of innovative financial solutions position the reinsurance industry for a robust and inclusive future, contributing meaningfully to Africa’s economic resilience and growth.

One step further in our Africa ventures

As you know by now, COVER is passionate about all things Africa. We attend several events on the continent and provide media support to most of the main events. 2024 was no different. We increased or focus on Africa, kicking off the year with our inaugural Africa COVERed trip, which saw us visit Rwanda and Kenya with a group of nine industry professionals. The learnings were fantastic, and relationships built have already borne fruit for many of the participants. Full details of the trip, our research paper and more about the 2025 trip here . We invite sponsors and delegates to see how they can get involved. Join us in bridging borders between African insurance industries.

Tech at the coal face

We hosted a very successful TechFest 2024, growing the audience of technology in insurance fans. Download the full eBook on the event here. Our inaugural COVER Innovators Network event saw 60 industry executives, mostly CEO, CIO and CTO, participating in a round table event sponsored by Microsoft and Sapiens. The event delivered fascinating feedback on AI in insurance, with case studies, creative ideas and fruitful networking time. Full detail here. Look out for a personal invite to the planned sessions for 2025.

Goodbye 2024

We would like to thank all our sponsors, advertisers and contributors who made the year not just possible, but fun. We appreciate the confidence you have in us. We will kickstart the year with a few brand-new offerings, specifically designed to assist our clients and readers to thrive in a fast-changing environment. Watch this space.
We wish one and all a family filled December and a successful recharge of the batteries. Looking forward to enhancing your efforts in 2025. Best wishes from the COVER team.