{"id":853269,"date":"2026-03-09T09:05:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T07:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853269"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T07:09:17","slug":"south-african-insurance-giant-pumping-billions-into-new-company-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/853269\/south-african-insurance-giant-pumping-billions-into-new-company-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"South African insurance giant pumping billions into new company in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Santam says all its key financial performance indicators exceeded their longer-term targets for 2025, with the group pushing hard into international markets such as the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its 2025 financial results, the group said it continued to execute its FutureFit 2030 strategy, which it said laid a strong foundation for strong results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group said that its focus remains on profitable long-term growth, with international expansion and diversification key to future growth prospects and its investment case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Santam Re and Specialist Solutions increased their non-South African gross written premium (GWP) by 11% to R6.8 billion over the year. Santam RE contributed around 80% to the new business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group added that the international growth will be augmented in 2026 by the official launch of Santam Syndicate 1918 in the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This comes after Lloyd&#8217;s provided final approval for underwriting to commence from 1 January 2026, with the group stamping the first risks for the Syndicate in December 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/845136\/south-african-insurer-launching-in-the-uk-next-month\/\">Santam<\/a> also spent R2.2 billion for the capital ceding requirement from Lloyd\u2019s in December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The amount was included in investment in subsidiaries at year-end, as a long-term loan with no set repayment terms to a subsidiary, Santam UK Holdings (Pty) Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The capital was invested in funds at Lloyd\u2019s of $118 million (around R2 billion), including deposits and similar securities, and a working capital loan to the Santam Syndicate 1918 of $13 million (R200 million), including cash and cash equivalents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lloyd\u2019s is the world\u2019s leading insurance marketplace, and brings together participants offering specialist insurance products from over 200 territories.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rob Vetch is leading the new syndicate as the company&#8217;s CEO and CFO. He brings 30 years of experience in the global (re)insurance market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initial underwriting focus will include the following classes of business:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Property \u2013 International and North America Open Market and Binders<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marine<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Energy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Political Violence and Terrorism<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Financial Institutions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Professional Indemnity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cyber<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Santam previously said that the planned Gross Written Premium for 2026 is expected to exceed \u00a3300 million (around R6.5 billion).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The international focus is not limited to the UK, with the group&#8217;s share of Shriram General Insurance&#8217;s GWP in India rising by 27%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In India, net insurance results increased by 28%, driven by premium growth and favourable investment returns on insurance funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elsewhere, Santam said that its remaining underwriting actions implemented to fully restore the underlying profitability of the in-force book were successfully rolled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said that investment markets in South Africa and globally had shrugged off initial fears caused by international trade decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said there was strong performance across equity and interest rate markets, benefiting investment returns across all portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">That said, a strengthening of the rand against major currencies in 2025 led to foreign currency losses on non-South African assets.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"301\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-1024x301.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-853278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-1024x301.png 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-768x226.png 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-1536x451.png 1536w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-7-2048x601.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Headline financials <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The group said GWP increased by 6.4% over the period, while net earned premium increased by 14.7%. The group also achieved a net underwriting margin of 11.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;A favourable attritional claims environment and a turnaround in the property portfolio further supported results,&#8221; it added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its performance also benefited from a long-term focus on volume and market share in specialist lines, Miway achieving record new business sales, and recent acquisitions making first-time contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group&#8217;s insurance revenue increased by 7% to R56.1 million in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group&#8217;s basic earnings per share rose by 11% to 3,717 cents per share, while its headline earnings per share increased by 8% to 3,743 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group&#8217;s final dividend was also increased by 11% to 1,090.00 cents per share, having been declared from income reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Metric<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">31 Dec 2025<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">31 Dec 2024<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">% Change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Group insurance revenue (R million)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">56,127<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">52,317<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">7%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ordinary dividend per share (R cents per share)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">1,090.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">985.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">11%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Basic earnings per share (R cents per share)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3,717<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3,356<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">11%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Headline earnings per share (HEPS) (R cents per share)<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3,743<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">3,477<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">8%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><br><br><br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santam is pumping billions into its new syndicate in the UK, with international expansion a huge focus of the business. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":716778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[9946,341],"class_list":["post-853269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-miway","tag-santam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853269"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853301,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853269\/revisions\/853301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}