Crypto transfers: new client information requirements coming for CASPs and intermediaries

The ‘travel rule’ means CASPs and FSPs cannot initiate a crypto asset transfer unless they can transmit prescribed information.

Medical schemes want pathology groups to pay back ‘excessive charges’ for Covid-19 tests

Health Funders Association files a complaint with the Competition Commission

Is ‘long Covid’ the result of people electing to vaccinate?

If you look at readers’ comments on Monday’s article, many think it is.

Higher death rate among younger, upper-income earners – Discovery data

Another trend is the marked increase in death claims due to heart conditions and cancer.

Big five life insurers’ death claims against fully underwritten policies returning to pre-Covid levels

Only 15% of the death claims received by the five insurers between March 2020 and August 2022 were due to confirmed Covid deaths.

Ma-Afrika Hotels back in court with another business interruption case

The hospitality group says the lockdown restrictions discharged it from the liability to pay rent.

Funeral insurance – a product for the poor, or is it?

Statistics indicate that 42% of South Africans had funeral cover in 2021, down from 53% in 2019. This is surprising considering that the pandemic increased claims, as well as people’s fear of death, the world over and significantly impacted the funeral insurance market and the claims environment.

Momentum Metropolitan’s 2022 earnings surpass those in pre-pandemic 2019

Momentum Metropolitan Holdings (MMH) delivered normalised headline earnings of R4.383 billion in the year to 30 June, significantly higher than the R1.007bn in the previous financial year, following the less severe impact of […]

Second GBS death linked to J&J’s Covid vaccine

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has confirmed a second fatal case of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine. Last month, Sahpra reported South Africa’s first […]

Vastly different financial results from Discovery’s insurance arms

Discovery’s long-term and short-term insurance arms delivered contrasting performances in the group’s 2022 financial year, with Discovery Life’s normalised operating profit surging by 200% and Discovery Insure’s tanking 165%, driven mainly by the […]

Bidvest Life’s claim volumes jump 44% in 2021

Bidvest Life recorded the highest number of claims in its 27-year history last year, with claim volumes increasing by 44% compared to 2020. The spike was largely driven by an increase in Covid-19 […]

The past four years have not been kind to independent financial advisers

General Notice 1258 of 2022 – Levies on Financial Institutions was published on 29 August and effectively put paid to any further concessions from the regulator to alleviate the plight of an industry […]

Did Sweden’s controversial Covid strategy pay off?

As much of the world shut down early in the Covid pandemic, Sweden remained open. The country’s approach was controversial, with some calling it “the Swedish experiment”. But almost two-and-a-half years after the […]

CMS to oppose Health Squared’s bid for voluntary liquidation

The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) was engaged in discussions with seven schemes to consider options for members of Health Squared, which intends to apply for voluntary liquidation on 1 September. In a […]

Medicines regulator reports first death in SA linked to Covid vaccine

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has reported a fatal case of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 Janssen vaccine. This is the first reported link between […]

Are we paying too much for group insurance?

In the desperate times of the cascading waves of Covid-19, South Africa’s life insurers, and especially group insurers of employee-based schemes, played a critical role in ensuring financial inclusivity by providing insurance cover […]

Death claims during fourth Covid wave closer to pre-pandemic levels

Life insurers reported a significant drop in death claims for the six months to the end of March compared to previous six-month reporting periods since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. South Africa […]