Insurance News Updates 2020

The group tightens lending criteria and has higher insurance claims but is still eyeing growth

The Department of Employment and Labour is relaxing some of its processes in order to avoid long queues at its centres in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its entity, the Unemployment insurance Fund (UIF), the department in the Eastern Cape -- one of the worst affected provinces -- has set out key interventions to address service delivery issues and reduce the number of clients visiting labour centres. The large scale shedding of jobs in the economy, clients submitting continuation forms, UIF enquiries, credit days and payment dates have all been identified as contributing factors to long queues, which could possibly lead to the spread of Coronavirus. To cut the red tape and reduce queues at Labour offices, the UIF will now deal directly with employers, who are retrenching, for the collection of documents and taking/capturing of UIF employee applications. Clients, who are receiving unemployment benefits, are not expected to go to the department on a monthly basis to sign a continuation form, but will be paid by the UIF as per pay sheet, using statistics of the previous month. There will also be the use of a SMS-functionality to inform clients of the status of their application so that they do not visit the department for such enquiries. The UIF will also implement an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) functionality from 30 January 2021, which will enable clients to follow-up on their claims. Occupational Health and Safety remains the core business of the department. In protecting both employees and clients, the department will put the necessary measures in place to reduce the spread of Coronavirus by allowing claims to be paid without the mandatory source documents, pending that everything is verified and correct, said Chief Director: Provincial Operations, Nomfundo Douw-Jack. In the unfortunate event of an employee contracting Coronavirus as a direct result of work, a manual or online claim can be lodged using the following details: Compensation Fund: [email protected] or phone 0860 105 350 or CompEasy (www.labour.gov.za). Clients are also encouraged to make use of the departments online services by logging on towww.labour.gov.za.

African Bank has published it financial results for the year ended September 2020, reporting a net loss of R27 million, against a R1.2 billion profit previously, citing higher credit impairments and reduced insurance income.

A new South African legal tech startup, Legal Lens aims to provide affordable legal fees to companies, state entities, and locals. The new legal startup reportedly is able to reduce legal fees by as much as 60% but on average will decrease the fee by 10%. Legal Lens Recently founded by admitted attorneys, Catherine-Jane Paulse and Yusha Davidson, Legal lens focuses on providing transparent and error-free legal fees. Paulse provides insight into the high levels of unfair legal billing in South Africa. The recent discussion paper by the South African Law Reform Commission regarding its investigation into legal fees also confirms that improper and unethical billing is a reality in South Africa. The legal tech startup has developed an innovative tech-based solution that reviews legal invoices and helps reduce legal fees. We realised that its awkward and difficult reviewing legal invoices, as clients fear disrupting the close relationship they have with their lawyers and may not have the knowledge needed to dispute a legal invoice. Its time-consuming. So, we developed a tech solution to review legal invoices and reduce legal fees," adds Davidson. How does it work To use the innovative service offered by Legal Lens, clients must send their legal invoices and any correspondence regarding fee arrangements and a letter of engagement with the lawyer. With the use of optical character recognition, experienced attorneys, and machine learning, the legal tech startup is able to review invoices and identify areas for potential savings. Legal lens engages with its client regarding the lawyer's fees in dispute. All details and engagements are handled professionally to maintain a good relationship between the client and its lawyer. The process will result in a new legal fee that is renegotiated and revised with a new invoice issued on an agreed payment amount. Clients are charged 17.5% (including VAT) of the amount saved. If there are no savings, Legal Lens does not charge. Future plans Legal Lens has entered into discussions with the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), for the LSSA to recommend the offering. The LSSA has stated that this innovative solution has the potential to protect the interests of the public. Legal Lens is currently in discussion with some of the major banks and insurance companies to offer its service but offers its services to any company, state entity, or individual who would like their legal bills reviewed.

that supports innovative, early-stage startups across Tunisia with high-growth potential across impactful sectors. Maxula Gestion is the asset management company behind the fund that attributes its funding to MAE insurance and the Arab Tunisian Bank (ATB). The idea is to back companies with innovation at the center of their business model. According to comments on Disrupt Africa, Raouf Aouadi the CEO of Maxula Seed Fund describes how startups develop their activity and new ideas with the companies that meet their portfolio participation as they create new markets. The fund announced two investments - NewGen a gaming startup formed by Seifeddine Ben Hamouda in May 2019, and MooMe an agri-tech farmer-decision-making system. Share

sometime this year where it will base its US operations. It is a welcome step for a city striving to become the next tech hub for startups. Pineapple's peer-to-peer lending insurance app enables users to purchase insurance for their valuables that arent originally covered. For instance - electronics and bicycles. Users can easily take a photo of the item they want to insure, input the cost and within a minute receive a calculated premium payment. All policies are underwritten by SA insurer Old Mutual Insure. Thus far the company employs 20 people and has raised $2 million since its founding. Pineapple recently partnered with Travelers Cos prompting the necessity to open the Hartford office. The partnership involves Pineapple using Travelers Cos relying on Pineapple's image recognition technology in the development of their new mobile app - Traverse. According to Smith, he views their recent working with one of the major insurers and participation in the Hartford accelerator program as an unofficial welcome to the ecosystem. More on the achievements plans in the works, meetings with major insurers and co-founders statements can be read at Hartford Business Journal .