Jun 05, 2015 09:13 CAT

Discovery bags FIA award

5 June 2015 – Discovery Life took top honours in the long-term insurancecategory at the prestigious annual Financial Intermediaries Association ofSouthern Africa (FIA) Awards held in Johannesburg last night. The awardsrecognise and honour South Africa’s leading product providers in the financialservices industry.

For the third consecutive year Discovery Life bagged first place in the LongTerm Insurance Product Supplier of the Year – Risk category. This isDiscovery Life’s sixth win. Hylton Kallner, Chief Marketing Officer atDiscovery, said: “We are delighted to be recognised for our commitment toproduct, service and relationship excellence. We have worked on a number ofinnovations in this competitive space and are pleased that these have been

so positively received. Our focus continues to be on providing excellentservice to our clients through innovative products that change lives.”

• One of these innovations is Discovery Life’s Dollar Life Plan, a USDollar-denominated life and disability protection offering, thatprotects South African policyholders paying out in US dollars.“This is the the first authentic offshore risk cover offering inSouth Africa. Offshore diversification has become a key part offinancial planning,” says Kenny Rabson, Deputy CEO of DiscoveryLife. This option will assist clients in meeting existing liabilitiesoutside the country, as well as help to protect against significantexpenditures which can be all the more costly due to adepreciating rand.

As for corporations, they continue to look for lowest price as well as best-of-breed benefit definitions. In light of this, another innovation is the CorporateIntegrator, whereby employees can get significant refunds on the portion ofpremiums paid by their employer by engaging in the Vitality wellnessprogramme. “In this way, we have managed to now take our Shared ValueModel of insurance, using wellness to price risk into the corporate market,”explains Rabson.

Discovery’s Integration model, where clients get much cheaper insurance atinception and over their lifetime by engaging in Vitality, has put theirproducts at the forefront of insurance, and is being rolled out across theworld through various partnerships and businesses in the UK, Asia and theUS.

“Being voted first place in the category ‘Long-term Insurance ProductSupplier of the Year – Risk Products’ bears testament to our singular focus onour clients, with intermediaries recognising us for product innovation andservice excellence, amongst other measures,” says Kallner.

“We thank all intermediaries for acknowledging our continuous efforts toassist in providing clients with exceptional advice across the entire financialplanning spectrum. The award strengthens our commitment to being the bestin terms of both our products and the services we offer, to benefit not onlythe intermediaries but ultimately, our clients,” says Kallner.

FIA award winners are determined by an extensive survey of FIA members,

conducted independently by Bluestream Research. Respondents rate productproviders based on product quality, service quality and relationship quality.

“The main objective of the FIA benchmark survey is to determine andrecognise South Africa’s top performing product providers, independentlyrated on intermediary satisfaction,” says Pieter Aucamp, CEO of BluestreamResearch.

ENDS

For interview requests or any other media related enquiries, please contact:

Thulganyo Khensani Mthombeni

Reputation Management Consultant

Khensanimth@discovery.co.za

071 886 9188

Discovery information

About Discovery Limited

Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisationthat operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, savingsand investment products and wellness markets. Founded in 1992, Discoverywas guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and toenhance and protect their lives. Underpinning this core purpose is the beliefthat through innovation, Discovery can be a powerful market disruptor.

The company, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, has expandedits operations globally and currently serves over 4.4 million clients acrossSouth Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Singapore andAustralia. Discovery recently announced an intent to partner with Generali, aleading insurer in Europe, and has partnered John Hancock in the US. These

new partnerships will bring Discovery’s shared-value business model toprotection industries in Europe and the US.

Vitality, Discovery’s wellness programme, is the world’s largest scientific,incentive-based wellness solution for individuals and corporates. The globalVitality membership base now exceeds three million lives in five markets.

Discovery is an authorised financial services provider and trades under thecode “DSY” on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. 

Follow us on Twitter @Discovery_SA

Contacts

Felicity HudsonPress ContactHead of Reputation ManagementDiscovery Groupmedia_relations_team@discovery.co.za0115294514

Nthabiseng ChapeshamanoPress ContactSenior Reputation ManagerHealthcare & Sustainabilitynthabisengc@discovery.co.za

Munene KhozaPress ContactSenior Reputation ManagerVitality & Wellnessmunenek@discovery.co.za

Zeenat MooradPress ContactSenior Reputation ManagerBanking & investmentszeenatm2@discovery.co.za

Shanti AboobakerPress ContactReputation ManagerLong and short term insuranceshantia@discovery.co.za

Gugu YikaPress ContactReputation Management ConsultantVitality & Sponsorshipsguguy@discovery.co.za0115298083