Third wave sees Sanlam pay out 88% more mortality claims
Financial services group Sanlam says the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact its bottom line.
This after the country’s mortality rate increased in the last several months, resulting in higher claims by clients.
The company’s financial records show that Sanlam Life and Savings paid gross mortality claims of more than R14 billion for the first 10 months of 2021.
This was 88% higher than the same period in 2020, mainly due to the impact of the country’s third wave of Covid-19 infections in the third quarter of the year.
“Claims above the long-term expected level were R3,42 billion net of reinsurance and annuity and disability offsets within Sanlam Life and Savings, and R536 million within Sanlam Emerging Markets,” said the group in a statement.
While this remains a massive blow, Sanlam believes its financial position has enabled the group to mitigate much of the impact on earnings in its South African operations.
“As part of a package of basis changes, the Sanlam Life and Savings cluster released discretionary reserves of R2,85 billion to mitigate the impact of excess claims.”
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