Life Insurance Firms Scramble For Africa |
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1 October - We're not bean counters but it seems to us that many African countries are the last places where a life insurance provider could make good coin. The longer a policy holder lives and continues to dutifully pay his premiums means more money for the assurers, and there are a lot of locations on this continent where that simply is not the case. Nevertheless, the latest insurance news is that certain SA insurance companies, most notably Metropolitan Holdings, are scrambling to cover developing African markets where the long-term insurance market remains wide open. Metropolitan is investing in Nigeria to start with, which makes sense, and if that is successful they intend to look into other markets in East and West Africa, which might prove less stable. Nigeria is one of a handful of countries on the continent where this sort of incursion could prove profitable. Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, and Namibia are others that spring to mind, but there are excellent reasons why places like Uganda, Rwanda, and the Sudan don't attract big life insurance firms. If the average life expectancy for citizens is roughly equivalent to that of a fruit fly it seems pointless to offer that type of insurance. Liberty, Old Mutual and Sanlam both have a strong life-insurance presence in various African countries but it forms a very minor aspect of their business as a whole. Old Mutual has operated in Africa for over 150 years, but analysts question whether they even have a strategy for their operations in the rest of Africa. Still, kudos to Metropolitan for seeing the potential in these large rest-of-Africa markets. There is certainly a greater risk involved for life insurance companies that take this plunge but the rewards could well outweigh the inherent volatility. Related Insurance Articles: * SA Insurance Underwriter Introduces EasyAsk * Discovery Goes Live with High-Tech Insurance System * SA Consumer Bodies Snub Insurance Hearings * Life Insurance Industry Posts Good Results * New Car Insurance Policy Offered By Santam * Hillary Clinton Promises Health Insurance For All * Sanlam Posts Strong Results For Now * SA Insurance Firms To Face Investigation 
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| 3/14/2010 7:06:57 AM | |||||||||||||||||||||
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