FNB Life says death-related insurance claims from its customers have normalised to levels last seen prior to the Covid-19 pandemic thanks largely to the fourth and fifth waves of infections from the coronavirus being less severe than the prior three waves.
The life-insurance unit of FirstRand-owned FNB said it was paying out an average of R99m in mortality claims each month in 2019 prior to the onset of Covid-19 towards the end of the first quarter of 2020. However, the devastating effect of the pandemic on its clients saw mortality claims spike to a peak of about R300m in monthly payouts the first and third waves of infections.
“At the height of the pandemic, we significantly improved our capacity to process high volumes of claims and payouts,” said Lee Bromfield, CEO of FNB Life. “While we have been able to assist beneficiaries during this difficult time, we are also pleased to see that the impact of Covid-19 on loss of life is starting to fade. This is also reflected in our monthly death-related claims across all of our life products, which closely correlate with the Covid-19 national database trends.”
FNB Life told Business Day its current death claims after the fourth and fifth waves had eased back down to an average of R98m per month, putting them back in line with pre-pandemic levels. It said this was despite its client base having grown since the onset of Covid-19. In March, FNB Life said it had paid out almost R2.6bn in life-insurance, income-protection and disability claims to its customers in 2021 with mortality claims alone comprising R2.3bn of that amount.
Covid-19 has taken a heavy toll on SA life insurers since 2020 with many forced to pay out record mortality claims as the virus decimated their clients. The latest statistics from the SA government’s Covid-19 online resource portal show that so far the country has had just less than 4-million confirmed cases of the virus and 101,697 deaths.
While Covid-19 cases continue the fourth and fifth waves of infections have been less deadly with many SA life insurers beginning to indicate that Covid-19 is likely to become an endemic disease. The easing off of the Covid-19 caseload also prompted health minister Dr Joe Phaahla to issue a repeal of Covid-19 regulations on Wednesday, meaning citizens no longer have to wear face masks indoors, while people leaving or entering the country do not have to produce full vaccination certificates anymore.
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