Centurion, 7 September 2022: Stakeholders from South Africa’s financial services sector descended on the Sandton Convention Centre this evening, to honour the brands that go the extra mile to support financial intermediaries, as these intermediaries in turn strive to deliver excellent advice, product and service to their clients, the end consumer.
The 2022 FIA Intermediary Experience Awards (FIA Awards) made an impressive comeback on the evening of 7 September 2022, following a two-year-long pandemic hiatus. More than 500 guests took full advantage of the ‘in person’ event to reconnect with industry colleagues, friends and peers and celebrate the ‘best of the best’ among financial product providers.
The annual FIA Awards is the culmination of a months-long process that polled more than 2900 FIA intermediary members operating in the insurance, investment and healthcare advice disciplines. “The FIA Awards is an opportunity for our intermediary members to rate their overall experience with financial product providers; promote the value of financial advice; and reinforce the trust relationship between intermediaries and product providers, which is an integral component of the adviser-client offering,” says Lizelle van der Merwe, CEO of the Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA).
The FIA Awards, which boast a 20-plus year history, is among the most prestigious and well-known events on the financial services industry’s annual calendar. The process that determined this year’s FIA Awards winners stands out as the most comprehensive in the association’s history, with more than 2900 FIA intermediary members completing the online survey and rating 6875 product providers across nine awards categories. The survey was conducted by InSites and Dáil Consulting, in partnership with the FIA.
“The intermediary responses are used to build a holistic view of the country’s leading insurer, investment and healthcare brands with a focus on intermediaries’ overall satisfaction with each brand,” says Ineke Prinsloo, of Dáil Consulting. Factors that contribute to this rating include the intermediary’s perception of the product provider’s products and services; the quality of the relationship between the intermediary and product provider; the product provider’s alignment with the treating customers fairly (TCF) regulatory principles; the effectiveness of the product provider’s complaints resolution process; and the trust between intermediary and product provider.
“The advisers, brokers and consultants that make up our intermediary membership are an indispensable part of the financial services distribution landscape,” says Van der Merwe. “We serve as the de facto ‘face’ of the product provider to the end-consumer, and it is imperative that the product and service we receive from product providers empowers us to offer fit-for-purpose, valued financial solutions that deliver as promised”.
Van der Merwe commended each of the competing product providers for their exemplary efforts in serving intermediaries, and by association South Africa’s financial services consumers. “The 2022 FIA Intermediary Experience Awards goes beyond simply measuring FIA members’ satisfaction with industry service levels, to set the gold standard in the industry, as decided by our intermediary members,” concludes Van der Merwe. “As always, this year’s winners set the benchmark for the level of product and service excellence that our members deem necessary to extend valued financial and risk advice to their clients”.
The winners of the 2022 FIA Intermediary Experience Awards are:
1. Non-life Insurer: Personal Lines – Santam
2. Non-life Insurer: Commercial – Western National
3. Non-Life Insurer: Corporate – Hollard
4. Underwriting Manager (UMA) – iTOO
5. Long-Term Insurer: Life/Risk – Sanlam
6. Investment Product Lump Sum – Allan Gray
7. Investment Product Savings – Allan Gray
8. Employee Benefits – Momentum Corporate
9. Healthcare – Bestmed
