Assupol Life
REWARDING SUCCESS “Even if we did exceptionally well, policy holders would have never benefited aside from when they submitted a claim. Some 300,000 policy holders qualified for free shares, and it was encouraging to see people who had contributed to the company’s growth getting a monetary reward for their commitment and loyalty.” With the option of retaining these shares or selling, all but 12,000 sold. “Selling, and thereby accessing cash, has been one of the benefits of demutualisation.” says Ms Mokwena-Halala, mother of two and a former police officer who joined the company 18 years ago initially as a part-time agent to augment her small salary. “More than 80% of those policy holders were Black, so when we talk about empowerment then we have empowered a lot of people. And we are seeing the spin-off of the shares we have paid out, with many clients referring their family members to us.” Established in 1913 as a burial society for members of the South African police, correctional services and other
government employees, Assupol Life has grown to cater for the general public, becoming the leader in tailor-made insurance products for the low and middle income groups. “We have been in the market for over 100 years, understand it, and research, develop and design products that our clients want and need. We also carry the flag in the assistance business group scheme arena, where we have around 310 groups with over one million policy holders covering more than 3.5 million lives, making us the leader in this market.” Pretoria-based Assupol, says Ms Mokwena-Halala, has always been proud of its track record and providing value for money. “We have been fair in our dealings with our clients, transparent in our selling process and - most importantly - we have always looked for reasons to pay claims. “In terms of turn-around times, we consider ourselves as leaders. We were first to introduce the 48 hour turnaround, and this is now the market norm. In fact 78% of the claims we received in the first half of the current
MAR 14 PAGE 3