Award-winning specialist long-term risk provider, Altrisk will be rebranded to become Hollard Life, effective 12 January 2015. The combined entity will represent Hollard for all individual Life risks as the specialists in the middle and affluent market within the group.
The division’s operations will continue under its existing team, headed up by Hollard Life & Investments Managing Director, Saks Ntombela.
Currently, most of Hollard’s revenue comes from the short-term insurance operation for which we are well-known. Bringing Altrisk fully into the Hollard fold will allow us to deliver on our growth aspirations to double the life business within five years and diversify our portfolio much faster. Our focus is on building an integrated solutions offering that addresses the complex financial planning needs of our clients and advisors. These solutions will include life, short-term and investments which we already have in place, and will then be expanded to include legal cover, estate planning and medical expenses offering in the near future – all of which will be underpinned by personal risk profiling.
One of our key priorities is to build a multi-channel market approach that will speak to what the risk business will look like in the next five years and beyond. Key drivers, including regulation – notably RDR and TCF, technology and changing consumer buying behaviour are fundamentally changing the face of our industry and the manner in which clients want to be engaged,” explains Saks.
“In terms of the Altrisk integration, it’s a great fit as exceptional client centricity is a hallmark of both brands and Hollard has been a financial investor in Altrisk’s growth since its start-up in 1999. We will retain the qualities that Altrisk is known for - being great at discriminating risk, a simple proposition, quick processing, great service and accessible management. It’s a solid base to build off and we’ll leverage our Hollard heritage to put together an integrated risk value proposition that responds to the needs of an evolving and increasingly discerning consumer market,” he adds.
Hollard is unequivocal about the role that predictive analytics will play in shaping its risk business of the future, and in this regard is making significant investments into data skills and capabilities. The extraction of intelligence from this data is what will allow the business to understand its customers deeply, build products that respond to customer needs and drive distribution innovation founded upon technology that makes it simpler for advisors and clients to do business with the group.
Altrisk was established in 1999 by co-founders Dalene Allen and Nick Stern with the backing of the Hollard Group and Hannover Re. The divisionalisation will bring over 160,000 lives with sums insured of more than R250 billion into the Hollard stable.
The Hollard Insurance Group (comprising the Hollard Insurance Company and Hollard Life Assurance Company) is South Africa’s largest privately owned insurance group, established in 1980.
