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Our World Our World

Creating a World Worth Living In

Sanlam has spent the past 100 years building resilient financial futures and lasting financial prosperity. We are helping to build a world for generations to come – so they can live their best possible lives within empowered communities and a protected and supportive environment.

At Sanlam we have a legacy to be proud of and to build on:

  • We develop trusted partnerships across networks, industries and countries.
  • We consistently put the client first – and continue doing what is right for the client.
  • We contribute to transformation and empowered individuals, businesses and communities.
  • We evolve our client base to provide more people access to financial services and provide innovative solution offerings for different markets, segments and channels.
  • We take responsibility as a corporate citizen and play a stabilising role in all economies where we operate.

Highlights of the last century reflect our innovative and transformational mindset:

  • Sanlam launched the first disability cover and income protection product, with the first pay-out made in 1924 to a railway worker who lost his eyesight in an accident.
  • We introduced the first computer-backed financial planning analysis for clients in 1977.
  • We concluded the first major black economic empowerment deal in South Africa by selling control of Metropolitan Life to a black consortium in 1993.
  • Sanlam became the first South African financial institution to enable offshore client investments in 1997.
  • We turned two million policyholders into shareholders who became co-owners of Sanlam in 1998, thereby sharing in our success and profits.
  • Sanlam Life Insurance Limited (Sanlam Life)’s advisers became the first to receive accreditation from the internationally recognised Financial Planning Institute (FPI) in 2003.
  • Sanlam established one of the most successful broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) partnerships when we sold a stake in the company to Ubuntu-Botho, a group of black investors led by Patrice Motsepe in 2004.
  • Sanlam was the first major South African insurer to offer standard life cover for people living with HIV/Aids.

Sanlam transformed from a small Cape-based insurance company established in 1918 into a leading, diversified financial services group with the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.

At the end of 2018 Sanlam finds itself again transformed in two major ways: following the conclusion of the last phase of the Saham Finances acquisition we are now the largest non-banking financial services group on the African continent, and we initiated a BBBEE transaction valued at more than R10 billion that will bring further impetus to transformation in South Africa.

These achievements bring responsibility: Sanlam is a key pillar of the continent’s financial infrastructure and South Africa’s success. Any material instance of failure or impairment of Sanlam would have a significant impact on the economies in which we operate and the financial lives of the people that we protect.

We take our role and contribution to a stable financial system seriously and are committed to supporting financial resilience, well-being, prosperity and inclusion.

Many stakeholders rely on Sanlam’s sustainability for a secure future. This means that we have to continually create new responses to changing economic, social and political environments in ways that balance different interests responsibly. We are also conscious that we have to be transparent in how we make these choices and allow stakeholders to shape our thinking in an integrated way.

We continue to celebrate 100 years in our integrated reporting, with an emphasis on our performance and progress in 2018, while also explaining how we remain true to our purpose: to build a world where people can live their best possible lives through financial resilience and prosperity. We contribute to our clients’ financial resilience by protecting them against the adverse financial consequences of unforeseen events. Our role within the financial system also contributes to the resilience of society in general through responsible capital allocation and providing stability when the system experiences internal or external shocks. Financial prosperity encompasses realising people’s financial goals over their lifetime, an important component of which is financial independence in retirement.

Our reporting retains a strong strategic focus. We recognise how current performance directs future prospects, and how governance structures and controls are essential in safeguarding the integrity of our leadership position.

We welcome your feedback. Please contact us and suggest how we can improve our reporting, disclosure and practices to the ultimate benefit of all our stakeholders.

Sanlam Life Insurance is a licensed financial service provider.
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