South Africa’s non-life insurance industry delivered its strongest performance in years during 2024, with profitability and solvency metrics reflecting disciplined underwriting, improved claims experience and buoyant investment income.
According to KPMG’s South African Insurance Industry Survey 2025, nine out of ten non-life insurers reported improved results, despite subdued economic growth and structural headwinds. Industry-wide profit after tax (PAT) increased by 24%, from R14.2 billion in 2023 to R17.7bn in 2024, while insurance revenue rose 9.9% to R154.2bn.
The broader macro-economic backdrop was mixed but modestly supportive. GDP grew 0.6% in 2024, led by the finance, agriculture, and trade sectors, while the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) mid-year boosted business sentiment.
Inflation averaged 4.4%, the lowest since 2020, and the prime lending rate was cut twice late in the year to 11.25%, initiating a cautious easing cycle. However, unemployment remained elevated at 31.9%, with the expanded rate at 41.9%, constraining consumer demand and insurance affordability.
KPMG notes that although the improved macro indicators eased pressure on household spending, structural challenges, such as logistics bottlenecks and deteriorating infrastructure continue, to limit real economic expansion and, by extension, premium growth.
Despite constrained revenue growth, insurers preserved solid capital buffers. The solvency capital requirement (SCR) ratios across the industry remained well above regulatory thresholds, with most insurers reporting between 1.6- and 3-times coverage. This reflects a strong capacity to absorb shocks and sustain underwriting volatility.
The Prudential Authority observed an uptick in licence variations and business transfer applications during 2024, signalling an environment of strategic repositioning and consolidation as insurers seek efficiencies and new growth channels in a maturing market.
Market share trends
The KPMG survey shows that the top 10 non-life insurers accounted for 80% of total industry revenue in both 2023 and 2024, confirming that South Africa’s short-term insurance market remains highly concentrated.
Santam retained its dominant position, with a 22.99% market share, followed by Hollard (10.68%), Old Mutual Insure (8.73%), Guardrisk (8.44%), and OUTsurance (7.89%). The next tier – Telesure (6.69%), Bryte (4.63%), Escap (3.63%), Sasria (3.40%), and Absa Insurance Company (2.58%) – collectively comprised another 47% of the market.
Although overall concentration was stable, several strategic shifts emerged:
- Hollard grew its share by 0.5 percentage points to 10.68%, reflecting strong gains in personal and commercial lines.
- Guardrisk advanced by 0.07 points, underlining growth in its cell captive and embedded insurance models.
- Escap, Eskom’s captive insurer, expanded its revenue by more than 20%, pushing its share above 3.6%.
- Santam’s share edged slightly lower (from 23.5% to 22.99%), but the group maintained its leadership in the retail and corporate segments.
KPMG observed that this stability in market-share concentration, despite differentiated growth trajectories, points to a mature and defensively structured industry, where organic growth is increasingly dependent on pricing discipline, innovation, and digital distribution rather than major shifts in market power.
The survey also notes that partnership-led distribution and platform-based business models are reshaping the competitive landscape. Cell captives and digital ecosystems are blurring traditional market boundaries, allowing mid-tier insurers to expand selectively without compromising solvency ratios or underwriting standards.
Claims moderation and disciplined underwriting lift margins
One of the defining features of 2024 was the improvement in claims ratios.
Insurance service expenses (primarily claims) declined to 73% of insurance revenue, from 76% in 2023, while the insurance service result – a key measure of underwriting profitability – rose 30% to R18.7bn. KPMG says this improvement reflects a combination of fewer catastrophic weather events, refined pricing models, tighter risk selection, and portfolio clean-ups in underperforming segments.
Globally, natural catastrophe losses surged to US$140bn, according to Munich Re, yet South Africa escaped the worst of the weather-related destruction. KPMG cautions, however, that poor urban planning and neglected infrastructure amplify domestic risk exposure: if major floods or storms occur, the financial and social fallout could exceed insured loss estimates because of widening protection gaps.
Emerging claim drivers and operational risks
The industry’s exposure to infrastructure failure and crime continued to escalate. South African Police Service data show 34 075 home burglaries between April and June 2024 – about 379 incidents a day – contributing to higher property claims.
A new trend was the rise of solar panel theft. With imports of solar panels reaching R17.5bn in early 2024 amid record electricity tariffs, insurers are seeing an increase in claims for stolen rooftop panels and components.
Some insurers have introduced specific policy endorsements or sub-limits for solar installations, reflecting the need to balance growing demand for renewable energy cover against heightened theft risk.
Reinsurance dynamics: stabilising but selective
The net expenses from reinsurance contracts rose 20% to R22.6bn, but as a share of the insurance contract result, fell from 57% in 2023 to 55% in 2024 – indicating that insurers retained more risk. The combination of fewer large loss events and higher attachment points has improved retention profitability, KPMG says.
Although signs of softening in the reinsurance market are emerging – with premium increases now more aligned to general inflation – reinsurers remain cautious. Concerns about climate change, cyber exposures, and infrastructure vulnerability are prompting refinements in policy wordings and the introduction of new exclusions.
Encouragingly, KPMG highlights growing innovation in parametric and cyber risk reinsurance, enabling insurers to close protection gaps and improve pricing precision with advanced analytics.
Investment performance drives profitability
Investment income was a key contributor to the 2024 performance. The industry’s net investment income rose 24%, from R12.2bn to R15.2bn, supported by higher accrued interest and fair value gains.
Total investments increased 14% to R142.2bn, while cash and cash equivalents rose 27% to R20.9bn, underscoring insurers’ liquidity strength. The JSE All Share Index gained 6.3% on average, with most of the upswing occurring in the second half of the year following the GNU’s formation and improved market sentiment.
Given the short-tailed nature of non-life liabilities, insurers remain conservative in their asset allocations – favouring short-duration, interest-sensitive instruments. Nonetheless, the higher average repo rate of 8.25% for most of 2024 provided a welcome yield uplift.
Structural resilience, but risks remain
KPMG says this year’s survey underscored the industry’s ability to adapt in a volatile environment. With underwriting margins improving, investment income strengthening, and capital adequacy remaining high, South Africa’s non-life insurers entered 2025 in a position of relative stability.
However, KPMG warns that climate risk, infrastructure decay, cyber threats, and persistent affordability pressures could test this resilience in the coming years.
The report points to a need for greater investment in data-driven pricing, risk prevention partnerships, and public-private initiatives to manage systemic exposures, such as energy transition risks and urban infrastructure failure.
