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WHAT WE DO

 

We operate primarily in the long-term savings market. This market is attractive and growing and has changed significantly over recent years. In particular it's no longer dominated by the traditional with-profits life assurance product.

Today, people all over the world are saving for their retirement against a background of declining state and corporate support. In many of our markets, people are living longer and have higher expectations of an active retirement. They want their needs to be understood and met and they expect choice, transparency and flexibility in the products available to them. Our business model, in which we operate close to the customer, enables us to fulfill those requirements.

Our primary objective as a business is to preserve and grow the money that our customers entrust to us, either directly or through their advisors.

Gathering and managing assets is a core activity in all our chosen markets

Gathering and managing assets is a core activity in all our chosen markets

At the heart of our business is Asset Management. We aim to grow our customers' savings and wealth, whether through active and direct asset management or the selection of funds and managers for customers to invest in.

Also close to our core is Life Assurance. We provide innovative life assurance product solutions which address both protection and retirement savings needs.

Banking, or bancassurance, supports our asset gathering strategy. We have a majority shareholding in Nedbank, one of South Africa's leading bank franchises, as well as banking interests in other countries in southern Africa and in Sweden.

We also have an interest in General Insurance through our majority shareholding in Mutual & Federal, which provides general insurance services in Southern Africa.

Business drivers

By producing consistently strong investment performance for our customers, and providing them with excellent service we don't only keep our existing customers loyal but we also attract new customers to trust us with their savings. As a result we deliver industry-beating net client cash flows.

The combination of strong investment performance and positive net client cash flow increases funds under management. We earn a revenue margin on those funds, which generates our gross profit.

We manage our expenses tightly to maximise our operating profit and, with efficient capital management, we maximise our return on equity and can support a progressive dividend policy.

In simple terms our model can be expressed as: Assets x Margins - Expenses = Profit

In summary

  • We look after our customers' money well.
  • We provide choice and flexibility to our customers, whose needs change over time.
  • We develop innovative, value-for-money and transparent savings and investment products.
  • We deliver sustained superior investment performance.
  • We are not constrained by product labels, and will provide products which best meet the needs of our customers, taking advantage of local tax and regulatory regimes.
  • We serve our customers by understanding their individual requirements and responding rapidly to these.