South Africa’s investment and life insurance industries recorded solid customer experience scores in the latest University of Pretoria Customer Experience Index, although both sectors showed a gap between the quality of experience customers reported and the value they felt they received.
The investment benchmark achieved an overall score of 76.7 out of 100, ahead of the CE Index’s international benchmark of 75. Life insurance scored 74.3, narrowly below the benchmark.
According to Professor Adré Schreuder, head of the Industry Chair in Customer Experience at UP, the investment industry was added to the index following subscriber requests and because of the significant overlap between companies operating in the investment and life insurance industries.
The CE Index measures customers’ end-to-end experience with brands and service providers, assessing factors including quality of experience, perceived value, problem resolution, satisfaction, loyalty, expectations, and emotional response.
The life insurance benchmark was based on interviews with 3 436 consumers conducted between August 2025 and April 2026. The inaugural investment benchmark drew on 1 494 interviews conducted between January and May 2026.
Investment providers
Allan Gray achieved the highest investment score in the study, with 80 out of 100. Discovery Invest and Old Mutual shared second place, while Liberty Invest, Momentum Wealth, and Sanlam Wealth shared third place.
The shared placings reflected differences that were not statistically significant, according to the CE Index.
The investment industry recorded a Quality of Experience score of 81.9, compared with a Value of Experience score of 75.2, leaving a gap of 6.7 points between the two measures. Satisfaction scored 78.1 and Loyalty 76.6.
The CE Index said the 6.7-point gap between Quality of Experience and Value of Experience was statistically significant, although similar gaps are common across the industries that it measures.
Schreuder said the benchmark adds a customer relationship perspective to an industry that is typically assessed on measures such as investment returns, risk, fees, and product performance.
Life insurance
Liberty and Old Mutual shared the overall top position in the life insurance category, with Discovery, Momentum, and Sanlam sharing second place.
Absa Life topped the Life Product category, Old Mutual ranked first in both the Broker/Adviser and Tied Agent channel categories, while Discovery and Liberty shared first place in the Contact Centre category.
Life insurance recorded a Quality of Experience score of 79.9 and a Value of Experience score of 73.4, a difference of 6.5 points. The CE Index said this gap was also statistically significant. Satisfaction scored 75.9 and Loyalty 73.6.
According to Schreuder, the channel results highlight the importance of maintaining consistent customer experience across advice, administration, claims communication, and ongoing support throughout the life of a policy.
Problem resolution and advocacy
The index found that 29% of investment customers and 15% of life insurance customers reported experiencing a problem. Investment providers completely resolved 70% of reported problems, while life insurers completely resolved 68%. Unresolved cases accounted for 7% and 8%, respectively.
Schreuder said these findings were significant for industries built on long-term financial relationships because problems test whether institutions can maintain customer confidence when relationships come under pressure.
Among customers who had joined their life insurer within the previous three months, 57.4% said they had done so following a recommendation or referral, compared with 13.2% who cited sales channels such as agents or call centres.
The investment industry’s Intent-to-Behaviour Ratio, which measures how effectively willingness to recommend translates into actual recommendations, was 65.7%, led by Discovery Invest at 75% and Allan Gray at 72.9%.
Life insurance recorded an industry Intent-to-Behaviour Ratio of 47.7%. The CE Index said its methodology allows comparisons over time. The industry’s previous Intent-to-Behaviour Ratio was 32.8%. Absa Life achieved the highest ratio at 61.9%, followed by Old Mutual at 52.1%.
Schreuder said the findings suggest organisations should treat customer experience as a driver of retention, advocacy, and growth.
