Gallagher Re enters life reinsurance market in South Africa to broaden offering and reflect interconnected risks

We are pleased to announce that our client, global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, has launched into South Africa’s life reinsurance market. This comes after the company was awarded a FAIS licence by the FSCA to provide advice and intermediary services for the life insurance and reinsurance market.    

The expansion of Gallagher Re’s trading authority and breadth of offering in South Africa comes at a time of growing interconnected risks globally and demonstrates a commitment and renewed focus on the African continent as a whole.

Access to traditional life reinsurance solutions is complemented by Gallagher Re’s ability to provide access to alternative forms of capital as well as more challenging forms of cover to obtain in Africa, including index-linked security funds, mass lapse cover, longevity cover for annuities and extreme mortality reinsurance.

Natalie van de Coolwijk, Regional Director for the Middle East & Africa at Gallagher Re (pictured above), said: “We are excited to be broadening our offering at such a critical time, having recently witnessed an emergence of interconnected risks and global threats. Never before have innovative risk transfer solutions been so relevant, and we are optimally positioned to deliver relevant insights and impactful solutions to our clients. From analytics and modelling to product structuring and risk financing, we are here to help them face their future with confidence.”

Theo Scheffler, Executive Head of Life Reinsurance for the Middle East & Africa region at Gallagher Re, added that this move is designed to give insurer clients access to a wider choice of reinsurance structures and providers, as well as boost the insurance product innovation and service offering on the continent.

“We’ve got global muscle,” he said. “We can negotiate improved deals and terms on behalf of insurers because we have a highly skilled analytical team, access to more reinsurers and market information, and we are aware of the technically appropriate prices for specific risks.

“We are also able to provide alternative forms of security, such as index-linked security funds, as well as types of cover that may be more challenging to obtain in Africa. This includes longevity cover for annuities, extreme mortality reinsurance, asset-based reinsurance, mass lapse cover, value-in-force monetisation and IFRS17 solutions.”

Gallagher Re’s entry into the South African life industry comes at a time when the market is still catching its breath after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Covid created significant losses for the South African life insurance industry,” says Theo Scheffler. “It’s testament to the industry that it emerged with its reputation intact. The life industry served its core purpose – it paid out claims when people most needed it. But the pandemic did highlight the fact that things we consider to be 1-in-200 year events may not be such extreme events anymore.”

Gallagher Re’s global risk and reinsurance advisory team for the life marketplace provides a suite of advisory services designed for insurers, reinsurers, distribution groups and capital market entities. With its strength in actuarial skills, financial expertise and product knowledge, the team has an average of 30 years’ experience in the life and reinsurance industry. It specialises in asset-intensive liabilities and focuses on assisting clients with life, annuity and long-term care insurance transactions.