Telkom has launched Telkom Financial Services, which includes a life insurance business that would initially sell funeral insurance, written out of a Guardrisk Life cell, to its more than 12mn customers
Telkom owns a significant share of the mobile market in South Africa, with the company recording 23.9 per cent growth in active mobile subscribers as of 31 March 2020, effectively giving it one of South Africa’s most important distribution channels for insurance products.
“In recent years, Telkom has made a strategic shift to digital distribution, which puts it in an ideal position to distribute insurance products using its considerable digital structure and intellectual property,” said Sibusiso Ngwenya, managing executive for Telkom Financial Services.
“Telkom customers already have a strong affinity to our brand, they trust us; being able to launch our funeral insurance product to our existing customer base gives us the ideal platform to get the business off the ground by offering our customers customised life insurance products, starting with the Telkom Funeral Plan,” said Ngwenya.
Telkom’s confidence in Guardrisk Life is underlined by the company’s decision to also incept a Guardrisk Life cell from the first party to underwrite the employee benefits offered to its own personnel. “This strategic partnership between Guardrisk Life and Telkom creates an exciting platform through which to provide Telkom customers with affordable, innovative insurance products,” said Francois Schaap, managing executive of Guardrisk Life.
