Sanlam Namibia says its assets increased by N$500 million to N$4.6 billion in 2023 from the N$4.1 billion reported in 2022.
The insurance company said it forecasts to pay out nearly N$22 billion in policy liabilities over the next few years.
Sanlam Namibia CEO, Tertius Stears, said the company has been performing well with its capital being 11.3 times more than the legal minimum requirement.
“And at this point in time, as you can see, the minimum term is one time more than the capital and we are up 11 times, 12 times over the last few years, showing that we can really take on further liabilities,” he said on Monday.
Stears further explained that the insurance giant also paid out nearly N$120 million for funeral claims alone, over N$100 million for other types of claims (like life insurance payouts), and more than N$12 million in cashbacks to clients who hadn’t made any claims in a while in 2023.
“But we currently pay out 97% of our funeral claims and 81% of savings claims within seven hours. And to prove to clients that in this very dire time or time of need, we are then trying to turn your claims around as quickly as possible,” he said.
The Sanlam CEO said the company had granted scholarships exceeding N$5 million to over 60 students as well as internship programmes that attract over 1,000 applications annually and support for entrepreneurs to the tune of N$7.5 million.
“And what’s wonderful about the interns, many of them have become full -time employees. Then also on the health side, I think cancer is probably one of our big projects and it’s one of our big challenges out there in the community and we’ve become very accustomed to that,” Stears said.
He also announced that the company is set to re-open its branch at Lüderitz in anticipation for the new customer base that will need servicing due to the recent oil and gas activity in the southern town.
“I think if you work in a country like Namibia, you only realise how vast and how far we have to travel sometimes to see our colleagues and most importantly our clients. We will be reopening our branch in Lüderitz not only in anticipation of the oil and gas that is literally going to pump out of the sea but also in anticipation of a lot of clients that will be there” he said.
