FNB Life has paid out almost R2.6bn in life insurance, income protection and disability claims to its customers in 2021.
The life insurance unit of FirstRand-owned FNB said the claims comprise R2.3bn in mortality claims, R190m in claims for retrenchment or the inability to earn an income and R81m for disability-related payouts. The combined R2.571bn in claims payouts were made between January and December 2021.
“Our life insurance business has been a significant part of our efforts to support customers in navigating the uncertainly of the pandemic,” said Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB Retail. “We take pride in our ability to payout claims at this substantial scale, particularly because we only integrated this insurance business into our offering only six years ago with the aim of helping customers in times of vulnerability.”
FNB Life said death-related insurance claims had decreased during the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, when compared to those recorded during the first, second and third waves of the pandemic. Claims relating to retrenchment or the inability to earn an income had begun to normalise as lockdown restrictions eased.
The latest available data from the Association for Savings and Investment SA (Asisa) showed that the value of mortality claims in the six months to September 2021 more than doubled when compared to the same period in 2019, just prior to the onset of the pandemic. The period covered the third wave of Covid-19 infections, which lasted from early May to mid-September.
FNB Life also said it has paying out an average of R14.5m a month in pre-emptive life insurance claims, which covers the payments it makes to beneficiaries identified through checking the National Population Registry for deceased policyholders. The insurer said it had paid out more than R450m in such pre-emptive life claims since it began doing so in 2016.
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