Regaining Momentum? Update on Microinsurance in South Africa

This paper provides an update on the South African (SA) Microinsurance (MI) landscape and the changes to the regulatory environment within which the market operates. It serves both as a summary of the last five years of the microinsurance sector in South Africa and as an entry point to further analysis. It studies the challenges in bringing the microinsurance regulatory roadmap to implementation. The paper is based primarily on qualitative insights gained from stakeholder interviews with both markets and regulatory players. Respondents spanned large and small formal providers across different product areas, industry bodies, market commentators, intermediaries, and administrators and the paper covers the following sections in detail:

• Supply-side overview of the SA MI market with discussions outlining the state of the market at the time regulatory proposals were first developed. This section also describes subsequent market developments in terms of insurance usage and supply-side trends;
• Journey of SA MI regulations with an overview of the process toward MI regulation which began in 2003, followed by an outline of the proposed MI regulatory framework;
• Assessment of the ongoing validity of the original MI regulatory parameters against market and regulatory trends.