InsureTalk66: Unpacking SA’s resilience

InsureTalk66 took place on 17 September 2026 under the theme “Beyond the Routine: Unpacking the Risk Playbook for South African Resilience”.

First up was Tal Gilbert, CEO of YuLife, who challenged the industry to think beyond AI as a tool for automation and efficiency. Drawing on more than 20 years in health insurance, life insurance and behavioural change, he said the industry is at a “fork in the road” in deciding how to use increasingly powerful technology. Two factors matter most: values and context.

“What are you trying to solve for? What are you trying to improve?” he asked.

The first wave of AI is already delivering benefits. YuLife uses it across quoting, underwriting, premium reconciliation, claims, onboarding and client service, turning processes that once took days into minutes.

“We’re seeing that AI can have a massive impact both on speed but also on quality, on consistency and on auditability,” Tal said.

Simply automating processes designed decades ago, however, would be a missed opportunity.

YuLife’s AI capability, Yunity, combines traditional insurance and employer information with data from members’ daily use of the YuLife app. Short, personalised questionnaires build a picture of physical health, mental wellbeing, sleep and workplace stress. At an aggregated and anonymised level, this can flag burnout and anxiety and spot early signals of musculoskeletal and mental health problems long before they become disability claims.

“The aim is not just data there for data’s sake,” said Tal. “It’s data to drive action.”

Tal does not see AI removing people from insurance.

“It should reduce routine administration so people can focus on claims, sales, advice and relationships, moving insurance from responding when something goes wrong to helping people live healthier lives,” he said.

That requires strong governance, privacy and consent.

“If people are sharing more data, you really need to demonstrate that it’s ultimately helping them and giving them a better service and better protection.”

Next up was Ashleigh Shellard, underwriting manager at Agrisum. Ashleigh explored how human creativity and agricultural innovation are becoming critical to South Africa’s food security.

“Farmers face climate uncertainty, rising costs, limited access to finance and uneven support,” she said. “In this environment, creativity is not a luxury, it’s a survival skill.”

Better information is also essential.

“The future of farming isn’t just digital, it’s intelligent,” she said.

Controlled-environment agriculture offers one response. Modern greenhouses and indoor facilities allow farmers to manage water, temperature, light, humidity and nutrients with far greater precision. For suitable high-value crops, Ashleigh said greenhouse yields can be several times higher per unit area than open-field production, and water use can drop sharply.

“Water consumption is reduced by up to 90%,” she said. “The gains come with significant infrastructure, energy and management costs, however, so good design and grower expertise are essential.”

Climate risk cannot be considered in isolation, she added. Droughts and El Niño events can coincide with currency weakness and fuel and fertiliser increases, multiplying the pressure on farms and ultimately food prices. Innovation must strengthen rather than replace farmers’ experience.

“When farmers are part of the process – when their voices shape the tools and systems meant to support them – innovation becomes practical, trusted and impactful,” she said.

The risk profile of greenhouse facilities has shifted in recent years, with hail, flooding, severe storms, water shortages and failures in power, irrigation and climate-control systems becoming key underwriting considerations.

“A greenhouse may survive a storm yet stop producing because of a mechanical failure that traditional property policies may not address,” said Ashleigh. “As an insurance industry, we need to be able to ensure that we can meet our farmers’ challenges and adapt our policy wordings.”

Samantha Williams, head of legal and regulatory affairs at the FIA, was next in the hot seat. Sam highlighted several developments with direct implications for intermediaries.

The Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) Bill has progressed following Cabinet approval for its submission to Parliament, although it remains uncertain whether it will be tabled this year. Sam stressed that CoFI is enabling legislation, with much of the practical detail still to come through conduct standards.

“The FIA is taking part in FSCA transition working groups on fit and proper requirements, risk and compliance and complaints management,” she said.

Employment equity

Employment equity needs immediate attention, she added, particularly for designated employers with more than 50 employees, who should already be preparing their 2025 to 2030 plans. Changes to B-BBEE and public procurement could also affect intermediaries’ scorecards and their ability to supply services to state entities.

Sam urged intermediaries to keep their anti-money laundering and FICA compliance up to date.

“Guidance Note 7B has introduced updated expectations on customer due diligence, record keeping and RMCP oversight,” she said. “Proposed legislation could extend record retention from five to seven years.”

She also highlighted the Competition Commission’s inquiry into barriers facing SMEs, where the FIA has raised concerns including levy increases, CoFI relicensing and the Omni-CBR return.

“If the Commission’s recommendations, once finalised, are adopted, this could translate into genuine relief on cost and compliance burden for our largely SMME membership,” she said.

Sasria’s revised motor policy wording has been pushed out to 1 November.

Rianet Whitehead, co-owner and editor of FAnews, followed Sam. Rianet previewed the issues shaping the publication’s upcoming non-life coverage. These include compliance failures that expose brokers to significant risk, the growing importance of claims advocacy, cyber risk among SMEs and the implications of AI for advice, underwriting and claims.

“When AI gets it wrong, who owns the mistake?” she asked, raising the possibility of new professional indemnity exposures.

Rianet also highlighted the increasingly international nature of risk, with geopolitical events affecting supply chains, shipping costs and insurance programmes in South Africa, and the growing importance of specialist UMA expertise.

More and more admin

She then turned to the changing relationship between brokers and insurers. Feedback on a recent FAnews newsletter suggested brokers may be carrying a growing administrative burden as they navigate multiple insurer portals, apps and processes, while technical support once provided by broker consultants has become more centralised.

Rianet invited brokers to share their experiences.

“Has more insurers’ administration quietly shifted onto your desk? Are all the portals, apps and digital tools genuinely making your business easier? Or have we digitised work that somebody else used to do and handed it to the broker?” she asked.

Broader feedback could show whether this is a market trend.

Paying it forward

Up next was Jonathan Thompson, president of the Insurance Institute of KZN (IIKZN). Jonathan shared an update on a busy year shaped by the theme of “paying it forward”. Central to this is developing young talent and passing knowledge between generations. A new mentorship programme, From Soil to the Stars, launched with the FIA, connects top students with experienced professionals. The pilot began in July with eight students and is intended to become an annual programme.

“We need to make sure that we’re educating the younger generation, nurturing talent and creating succession planning for a sustainable industry,” Jonathan said.

The institute has deliberately brought back more face-to-face education while keeping webinars available through an online CPD vault. Its calendar has included sporting events, the 57th annual MI Quiz Night and a Women’s Day high tea, with the annual gala dinner at the ICC on 28 November still to come.

Jonathan encouraged insurance professionals to get involved with their local institutes and, where possible, serve on council.

“We are really blessed as an industry that we have these events and programmes where we can socialise and learn together,” he said. “It’s always good to build your professional network.”

Next, Itumeleng Mofokeng, senior manager for treaty reinsurance at Old Mutual Insure, examined whether traditional reinsurance programmes remain fit for purpose as geopolitical risks grow more complex. Trade disputes, sanctions, conflict, shipping disruption and cyber warfare are creating exposures that may fall outside conventional treaty protection. Tariffs can raise rebuilding costs, supply chain disruption can cause business interruption without physical damage, and systemic cyber events are increasingly excluded. Itumeleng urged insurers to check the alignment between what they promise policyholders and what reinsurers will cover.

“Are your cancellation clauses aligned to this ever-shortening period?” he asked.

Against this uncertainty, the reinsurance market has been softening. Stronger balance sheets, improved profitability and growing traditional and alternative capital have increased available capacity, giving cedents room to negotiate better terms, explore multi-year arrangements and diversify their panels. Itumeleng cautioned against letting attractive pricing undermine underwriting discipline or long-standing relationships, because cheap capacity may disappear when the market hardens.

“Will this hold in a hard market?” he asked.

Climate change adds another dimension. Wildfires can generate non-physical damage through evacuation costs, smoke and business interruption even where property is untouched, and compounding events can complicate the definition of a single catastrophe. Itumeleng pointed to consecutive flood and wind events, where saturated ground worsens the next storm.

“These are some of the things that we now have to take into account when we’re structuring our reinsurance treaties,” he said.

The central question, he concluded, is whether reinsurance strategies are robust enough for risks that no longer fit traditional assumptions.

“Is your reinsurance strategy robust enough against geopolitical uncertainties and emerging risk events that are not triggering your typical or traditional cat treaties?” he asked. “Today’s abundant capacity is an opportunity to find gaps, test programmes under different scenarios and negotiate protection while conditions are favourable.”

Our final presentation of the day was delivered by Genric CEO Werner Strydom and CIO Carl Moodley, who explored the healthcare funding gap in South Africa. Werner noted that only around 9.1 million of a population of roughly 63 to 64 million are covered by medical schemes, leaving many reliant on public healthcare or exposed to out-of-pocket costs.

“With medical inflation running well ahead of general inflation, healthcare is becoming very expensive in the country,” he said. “Even scheme members face co-payments, sub-limits and specialists charging above scheme tariffs, creating demand for complementary solutions such as gap cover.”

Carl unpacked the regulatory environment. Gap cover is permitted under the demarcation regulations and covers differences between what providers charge and what schemes pay. Primary healthcare insurance sits in a more complex space, offering GP consultations, medication, basic dentistry and limited inpatient cover to lower-income households and groups.

“This is not designed to replace a medical scheme,” he stressed. “Cover is less than what you get in a medical scheme, but it is much more affordable.”

These products operate under exemptions from the Council for Medical Schemes, with the current exemption due to expire at the end of March 2027.

National Health Insurance adds further uncertainty. Werner outlined scenarios ranging from the current environment continuing while litigation is resolved, through phased implementation, to a comprehensive NHI system. Genric sees healthcare insurance and medical schemes as complementary.

“We see this as a coexistence and really not competition,” Werner said.

Carl pointed to the UK, the Netherlands and Australia, where universal healthcare coexists with private or complementary cover. Werner agreed that shortfalls will persist as costs rise.

“We see it practically happening. We see it when claims come through. People are just really exposed,” he said.

For Genric, the opportunity lies in adapting its gap and primary healthcare products as the landscape develops.

If you’d like to watch the recording of the webinar, please click on the video link below: