Bill ‘boosts barriers for black insurance’

A highly technical bill intended to strengthen the prudential regulation of the insurance industry was attacked by black business in Parliament on Tuesday, for reinforcing the barriers to their entry into the sector. The intervention by the Black Business Council and four black-owned insurance companies urging transformation of the white-dominated insurance industry, was supported by MPs across the political spectrum. It added further momentum to the drive for "radical economic transformation", a theme that President Jacob Zuma is expected to emphasise in his state of the nation address Thursday. Already there are strong calls for the transformation of the banking sector, and Parliament’s standing committee on finance is to hold a public hearing on transformation of the financial services sector — including the banking and insurance industries — on March 14. Representatives of the black-owned insurance companies complained that the licence conditions, high audit and actuarial fees, ...