Sasria gets R3.9bn boost from Treasury, vows to clear unrest claims backlog | Fin24

Sasria said it aimed to settle 80% of all unrest-related claims between R1 million and R30 million by the end of October.

• The South African Special Risk Insurance Association and National Treasury announced that the state-owned insurer has received R3.9 billion to assist it in meeting its obligations. 
• Sasria said it aimed to settle 80% of all claims between R1 million and R30 million by the end of October.
• The insurer said almost 100% of claims notifications have been received, which are in the process of loss adjustment.

The South African Special Risk Insurance Association (Sasria) and National Treasury announced that the state-owned insurer has received R3.9 billion to assist it in meeting its obligations until the end of the current financial year, including assisting businesses rocked by looting in July’s unrest.

The unrest, which started with outrage at the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma for defying the Constitutional Court and refusing to subject himself before the State Capture Inquiry morphed into a wave of violence and looting which wrought extensive damages to businesses that is estimated to make a R50 billion dent on GDP.

So significant was the damage to businesses that by August, the riot claims had already breached the R10 billion mark.

The announcement follows the conclusion of the Special Appropriation Bill Parliamentary processes, which also aims to assist Sasria in meeting its obligations until the end of the current financial year, which ends on 31 March 2022.

Sasria said in a statement on Monday that it made interventions in providing capital and reinsurance restructure to businesses affected by July’s unrest, with government committing to stand in as the entity’s insurer of last resort.

The statement said Sasria had sufficient reserves including through its reinsurers to meet all valid claims and that Sasria remained liquid and continued to trade as usual.

“The final additional support is dependent on how swiftly Sasria can finalise the total claim amounts. It is expected that the additional support which has been flagged in the recent special appropriation will be concretised in the 2022 budget,” the statement said.

The statement said “almost 100% of claims” notifications have been received, which are in the process of loss adjustment.

“To date, claims amounting to over R5.8 billion have been paid. All claims below R1 million [are] to be settled and paid in full quicker, and the agent companies are working extremely hard to make sure that these claims are paid as quickly as possible,” the statement said.

The statement said Sasria aimed to settle 80% of all claims between R1 million and R30 million by the end of October. The insurer started paying interim payments as proposed by loss adjusters on all claims above R30 million.

“We would like to assure clients that we have added resources to reduce any possible delays in the processing of claim payments. We are confident that in two weeks, we would have attended to all outstanding reports and made necessary payments,” the statement said.

Sasria’s managing director Cedric Masondo said the insurer met with National Treasury about extending financial assistance to businesses hardest hit by the unrest and giving the entity capacity to respond to similar future incidences.

“Our discussions with National Treasury are in line with the desired determination of the best medium that can inject capital, as we look at how to be future-proof ready and acknowledge the lessons learnt during the unfortunate unrest in July,” said Masondo.

He added that the insurer would do collaborative work with loss adjusters to ensure that the buildings are rebuilt.

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