The Insurance Apprentice

The task was to look at the legislative prohibition on inducements, as set out in section 44 of the Short Term Insurance Act, 53 of 1998 (STIA) and section 45 of the Long Term Insurance Act, 52 of 1998 (LTIA), some inducement practices in the industry, and then determine if there are other principles that the Registrar should consider when it comes to inducements in terms of delivering good outcomes for customers.

The insurance industry is traditionally white, and male dominated. However, a few strong ambitious women are breaking through the glass ceiling. Inseta wanted the apprentices to talk to learners about women who are breaking the glass ceiling in the insurance industry, the education journey of the chosen individual and motivation for the learners, with a brief overview of what Inseta is/does and the opportunities that Inseta provides that could offer a similar career trajectory for the learners. But there was a twist…

Based on risk governance and ethics, the task for the day sees the judges act as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of ‘ConsultCo’ (a fictitious company) as they request an urgent meeting with the broking company (the apprentices) after media coverage of alleged serious misconduct.

Episode four sees the contestants acting as commercial and corporate property insurers who underwrite business in South Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands and Africa. A client plans to expand into Africa over the next two years and they are approached by a broker to give indicative terms for the upcoming renewal for the current sites in RSA, Morocco and Mauritius, as well as renewal for the additional sites in Zambia and Libya.

Hollard does things differently, and by coupling trade credit insurance with credit risk management, a policyholder is able to insure only the debtors that keep them up at night. A full credit review of each selected debtor is completed, providing a good indication of those the client should be doing business with, helping to prevent bad debt in the first place. Not all debtors are created equal and various factors determine each one’s risk. What really matters, from an insurance perspective, is how well each debtor is assessed as a credit risk – which is the task the contestants were assigned in task three.

Episode two shines a spotlight on the contestants as they are faced with the challenging task of developing a specialist risk cover for the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) space. The contestants were expected to conduct a needs analysis in order to ascertain the SME’s special risk insurance needs; propose a special risk insurance product that will meet the needs of the SMEs; and cover the process to be followed when it is time to log a claim.

The first episode of The Insurance Apprentice 2018 introduces us to the contestants, and they are also given their first task of the series. The task, focusing on negotiation skills, challenged the candidates with the following scenario: they are brokers, dealing with a renewal. The judges are the clients and they must sell an increase in fees/commission. They also had to convince the client to buy one new cover. With the ultimate decision maker in the hands of the broker, the difficulty was in selling new cover that was not currently covered. Did the brokers ultimately convince the client and provide a compelling argument as to why the fees should be increased?

It’s a wrap! The final episode of The Insurance Apprentice 2017, ‘Announcing the winner’, sponsored by PWV Insurance Brokers, sees Kabelo Paile, Relationship Manager at Santam, crowned as the winner of the third season….

Task six was quite challenging. The contestants were ‘employed’ by the FSB and they had to consult with the industry on the proposal that Commercial Binders to brokers, who also give advice, should be prohibited. Commercial Binders would only be permitted to be awarded to UMA’s or non-mandated intermediaries who do not give advice. The task required the contestants to consult with various industry role players to obtain alternative views on the pros and cons of prohibiting commercial binders.

Inseta decided that they would like the contestants to go to Ekurhuleni West College, Boksburg, which is a TVET College, to talk to students of whom some already have a qualification. The audience was tough and probably did not cooperate the way the contestants envisaged it… it makes for some interesting viewing.