Cape storm and Knysna fire pound Santam’s underwriting margin
Santam could recover R70m for the June Knysna wildfires and Cape Town storms if talks with reinsurers are successful, says CEO Lizé Lambrechts. This would reverse losses the short-term insurer recorded in its half-year results arising from the “worst catastrophe event in South African insurance history”, which caused about R3bn in damage. Santam clients claimed R800m from the events. “Santam’s view is that it should be treated as one event, which could increase our recovery from reinsurers by approximately R70m,” said Lambrechts. “We are still engaging on this matter.” The Sanlam subsidiary believes the two disasters should be combined because they were caused by the same weather conditions.
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