H. Savy Insurance – 10 years of solid growth |18 July 2005

When the company first opened its doors for business in 1995, it boasted a staff contingent of six, with Lambert Woodcock as General Manager and Martin Wright as Insurance Consultant. 

From this humble beginning and a paid-up capital base of R2 million, it entered the insurance market and created an event of the scale not short of a revolution. 

Selling on the powerful slate of realistic prices and dedicated service, it quickly captured a significant share of the market and instigated a major downward slide of insurance premiums whilst raising customer awareness on service delivery quality.

With the arrival of H. Savy Insurance clients benefited from the drop in premiums and the company met its business forecasts.

In its inaugural year, H. Savy posted a gross premium income level of R8.6 million, almost doubling that a year later, rising by another 40 percent to R18.5 million in the third financial year. 

Thereafter growth proceeded at a lower pace, reaching R21.8 million in 1999/2000.  

Between 1999/2000 and 2004/2005, gross premium income increased by another 50 percent and in the current financial year, management expects a record R33 million in general business premium income.

The staff are at the heart of the company’s success.  The loyalty of the original team is strongly reflected by the fact that except for the expatriate consultant, and one staff who has migrated to Australia, all the rest of the team is still serving with the company to this very day.

Indeed, names such as Lambert Woodcock, Marie-Luce Mondon, Annette Domingue and Veronica Lalande, are well known in the local industry and almost synonymous with the practice of insurance itself.  Of course, lower down the staffing echelon, there are equally well-respected names and here, mention must be made of Dave Betsy, Elizabeth Thelemaque, Nellie Daka and Murielle Venkateswaralu, all of whom joined the company in its formative stage.

Today, the old familiar faces mingle with the new and the young.  The synthesis of the idealism and the energy of new recruits coupled with the intellect and expertise of the management and technical cadre has created a potent sales force in the organisation.  This seamless blend of talents has been the key to the company’s resilience and growth during a challenging – and sometimes turbulent – decade.

Since inception, the company has paid just under R100 million of claims, about 15 percent of the total being in respect of the tsunami and flash floods of late December 2004.  That it was able to do so whilst respecting the solvency requirements of the Insurance Authority is a testimony of the financial stability of the company.

The above said, it is an inescapable fact that operating an insurance business in the current economic climate can be tough.  H. Savy Insurance however says it sees the situation more as a challenge and considers the prevailing economic difficulties as a test of the company’s adaptability, resourcefulness and resilience in the face of adversity. 

It is to be admitted however that the development of the company has generally been constrained by a scarcity of foreign exchange, critical to support a prudent reinsurance programme.  In addition, shrinking capacity in the reinsurance market and a general tightening in premium levels have in recent years significantly affected the smooth renewal of the company’s reinsurance Treaties.

These factors have had the effect of slowing the natural pace of business growth and forced management to fast-track an increase in the company’s overall insurance retention from around 40 percent to 70 percent.  However, as compensation, this was implemented within the framework of more comprehensive non-proportional (Excess of Loss) reinsurance protection.

The company would certainly not have achieved its present state of development were it not for the understanding and patience of its re-insurers. It has expressed its warm and heartfelt thanks particularly to Africa Re, which (along with Hannover Re) has been the company’s lead re-insurer since inception.  

In this regard, it also recognised the hard work and technical contributions of reinsurance broker Alexander Forbes as additional factors underpinning the company’s success.

As it enters its second decade, the company boasts a well balanced portfolio of diverse businesses and has in its client repertoire some prestigious names in tourism, industry and commerce.  In 2002/03, with reinsurance support from Africa Re, it expanded its business base to accommodate life insurance operations, a venture that is already showing very promising results.

Despite ten years of uninterrupted business growth and solid profitability the management said it has no intention of slowing down. At a time of major economic restructuring, this would be an unforgivable error of judgement.  

With the state-owned competitor poised to undergo partial privatisation, competition in the insurance business is set to enter another intense phase.  The company welcomes the challenge ahead and whilst there is today, in the aftermath of the recent natural disasters, arguably less scope for a price war, it will vigorously and confidently compete on service delivery quality and after sales care.