August 26 - South Africa leads the way in the insurance world to identify
potential risks and re-think the way its industry can face these changes.
The South African Insurance Association (SAIA) said that the country's
insurance industry will be collaborating on risks facing the future and the
country, including environmental risks, social risks and governance risks.
The Strategic Risk Forum will address a list of top risks facing South Africa
this week and prioritise them in terms of importance and how they will be dealt
with in the next three years.
Emerging risks such as biodiversity, ageing populations and climate change
are just some of the issue that insurance groups will tackle.
The list is as follows:
- South Africa's dual economy and the gap between rich and poor
- Accessibility to insurance and the lack of market growth
- Unemployment
- Governance
- Poor management of the country's physical infrastructure
- Crime and Corruption
- Environmental risk management
- information exchange
- Outcome measurement
One of the First Signatories for UNEP FI
South Africa and Brazil have the most number of signatories (40
out of 433) to the United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative
(UNEP FI) and are among the leading countries in the world in terms of the way
insurance companies rethink risk management.
The Principles for Sustainable Insurance will be launched at
next year's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development which will
focus mainly on "green economy" within the context of sustainable development.
"The South African industry has moved forward on a response
strategy to ensure the sustainability of short term insurance in South Africa,"
said the SAIA's strategic co-ordinator for sustainability, Vanessa Otto-Menz,
"ensuring the accessibility, availability and affordability of insurance
products over the long term."
Otto-Manz said that collaboration among South Africa's insurance
operators would make a significant difference to the big issues that needed
sorting out.
"Ten years ago, the hijacking rate was double what it is today,"
she said. "Then we began working with different stakeholders and that has helped
the rate drop."
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