Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. Photographer: Armand Hough/ Independent Newspapers
Standard Bank Insurance Brokers says it has started seeing a significant increase in new policies taken up by young people.
The broker business says that in 2023, 20% of new Flexible Funeral Plan policies were taken up by people aged between 21 and 30, compared to 2020 and 202 when only 12% of its new client base was accounted for by this demographic.
The data shows that at least a quarter of all its Flexible Funeral Plan policies are taken up by people between the ages 26 and 35.
Sonja Oosthuizen, the head of Life Insurance Products at Standard Bank Insurance Brokers, said: “The numbers are an indicator that young people are taking responsibility for their own insurance needs. What’s also interesting to note, is that these clients are also preparing for their immediate as well as, in some cases, extended family needs.”
A tragic event like losing a loved one is emotionally draining but can also be devastating when there aren’t enough funds available to give family members a dignified send-off.
Oosthuizen said tragic life-threatening events, like the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, had grown awareness of personal risk and highlighted the value of being better prepared for life’s uncertainties, specifically the need for funeral and life insurance.
“Like never before, families are becoming proactive in funeral planning as part of their risk management mechanisms to talk openly about the potential death and funerals of loved ones, particularly concerning the death of a breadwinner,” she said.
The broker business said it was seeing an increase in the number of Flexible Funeral Plan clients who were choosing benefits that covered needs that went beyond the funeral. Some, in fact, being benefits that policy holders could enjoy while alive, such as the the cash-back benefit.
“Since its introduction, we’ve seen a high uptake of the cash-back benefit, a benefit that pays back 10% of all paid premiums every five years from the time of selecting the benefit,” Oosthuizen said.
“Consumers in South Africa are under considerable financial pressure. The insurance industry has had to evolve with the socio-economic landscape to meet the needs of clients and this means offering benefits that go beyond covering the cost of a funeral.”
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