Santam clinches FIA’s top corporate and personal insurance awards

South African intermediaries honoured leading South African short-term insurer, Santam by choosing the business as their top choice when it comes to both corporate and personal insurance.

Santam’s Executive Head of Commercial and Personal, Edward Gibbens, said:  “The fact that this award was voted for by intermediaries is a strong endorsement of  Santam’s enduringly high service levels, innovative product offering and on-going commitment to helping intermediaries deliver value to their clients.”

The devastating catastrophe events in the past week as well as the socio-political, economic and regulatory context within which the FIA Awards took place this year, attests to the importance and value of sound advice. “Today, more than ever, we recognise the essential role insurance intermediaries play in society and we know it is our task to demonstrate the real value our business has for individuals, businesses and indeed, the South African economy. The future of broker distribution depends on the way in which the entire insurance value chain faces the challenges that come its way while using the opportunities it is afforded to serve clients better,” says Gibbens.

Says Gibbens: “We rely heavily on relationships of trust to deliver on our promise of Insurance good and proper. Our intermediaries are a crucial link to both our corporate and personal clients and our relationship with them is a cornerstone of our business. We believe the Santam brand has high consideration among intermediaries because we invest significantly in building capabilities in our claims and service delivery areas both to their benefit and those of their clients.”

Personal insurance clients are increasingly demanding simplicity, transparency and speed in their transactions with insurers or their insurance intermediaries. Says Gibbens: “The relentless demand for transacting with insurers using online and mobile technology, for example, will continue to fuel this change in customer expectations. In this respect, we are proud to be able to say that our innovation and service delivery in the Personal Lines category underscores our consistent efforts in living up to our brand promise.”

Santam’s Executive Head of Specialist Business, Quinten Matthew says that assisting businesses through times of insured loss by paying claims quickly and efficiently has been one of the primary reasons that more than 86 of the top 100 JSE-listed companies trust Santam to protect their businesses.  “A large part of our success has been founded on keeping a focus on the client and providing them with trusted insurance products when and where they might need them. These principles have always been fundamental to our strategy and success in the insurance market and at the heart of the business is the relationship we have with our intermediaries. We thank them for their loyal support and for acknowledging us once again.”

The annual FIA Awards present Santam with an essential yardstick to determine whether we are effective and meeting the changing demands of the market.  Says Matthew: “We have retained our position through diversification, investing in our intermediary model and constantly adapting to social, environmental and economic shifts to manage insurance risk.  We continue to work hard at providing good and proper insurance by introducing initiatives aimed at improving our offering and delivering client focused solutions through our extensive network of intermediaries.”