The Hollard Insurance Group, one of South Africa’s largest insurers, has partnered with TymeBank, the leading South African digital bank, to offer South Africans Family Protect, a funeral cover that provides a three-month income benefit for living expenses, with no delay or paperwork.
The partnership leverages TymeBank’s superior banking platform technology and Pick n Pay’s retail footprint to broaden access to financial solutions, providing unique insurance solutions that more efficiently meet the needs of consumers. This innovative cover is available for new TymeBank clients and can be accessed at TymeBank’s self-service kiosks in over 400 Pick n Pay stores nationwide. Existing TymeBank customers will be able to access the solution at a later stage.
Family Protect is designed to have broad appeal to consumers, who recognise that the cost and burden of a funeral should not have to be borne by families after the death of a breadwinner.
Sign-up is easy, convenient, and quick as the TymeBank kiosks use sophisticated biometric identity verification. Within minutes, customers can sign up for an account and choose the cover most suitable for their individual family needs. The solution eliminates the use of long forms, documents, physical engagement, airtime, or data.
Despite South Africa having a mature financial services sector, many customers still experience a chasm in affordability, convenience, simplicity and transparency. The partnership between Hollard and TymeBank is a response to these structural impediments and aims to broaden financial access for South Africans.
“A lot of work still needs to be done in the country around financial education and planning and the provision of broad-based financial access,” says Besa Ruele, CEO of Hollard Life. “Our aim is to play our part in informing consumers of the importance of financial planning. By harnessing the power of digital platforms, we want to ease the financial burden on future generations by providing financial control and convenient access to financial products and services.”
Customers can, as part of the funeral policy they sign up for, also sign up to cover their children, spouse and parents. In addition, the main life insured is covered on their death for a three-month income benefit. The monthly pay-out income benefit is directly linked to the monthly deposits made by the customers into their TymeBank account, as well as the average amount that the customer spends on grocery purchases. This money is deposited directly into the customer’s TymeBank account for their use as they see fit.
Ruele says, “We will continue to explore opportunities to expand access to financial products that can enrich people’s lives, using the most accessible channels to widen our reach. In that way, we hope to play a part in improving the lives of people through financial services.”
According to Hollard, there is a clear demand for an offering that makes financial services easily accessible and convenient to consumers, with the opportunity to participate fully in those services. Family Protect provides beneficiaries with much-needed cover to pay for living expenses, such as groceries or payment of bills, after taking care of funeral costs. This cover provides families with added peace of mind, knowing that in addition to funeral costs, loss of income will also be covered for a period of three months following the passing of a breadwinner.
TymeBank CEO Tauriq Keraan says: “This partnership is true to TymeBank’s ethos of ensuring responsible banking practices to offer solutions that will advance the consumer’s financial well-being. Given the current challenging and uncertain economic period that consumers face, this innovation provides a solution that can positively impact consumers.
“Our partnerships with Hollard and Pick n Pay demonstrate the value that can be unlocked when corporate citizens come together to the benefit of individual citizens. We are leveraging our expertise in the financial services sector to bring a truly innovative offering that resonates with the needs of families across South Africa. Our customers are benefiting immensely from a differentiated digital experience that they can safely and conveniently access,” Keraan said.
“This joint offering further demonstrates Hollard and TymeBank’s strong partnership business models as well as a joint commitment to furthering the financial well-being of South Africans. We believe this offering to customers will go a long way in further improving the financial position of our customers,” Keraan continued.
“This continuous innovation by our strategic partners allows us to provide our customers with greater convenience under one roof but also improves accessibility to financial services thanks to our convenient footprint in neighbourhoods across the country. Our stores have become more than just a place to buy groceries, but a place for everyday services, such as bill payments and banking,” says Richard van Rensburg, Chief Information Officer at Pick n Pay.
Family Protect will be available from October 2020 at TymeBank kiosks installed at over 400 Pick n Pay grocery stores.
About Hollard
Hollard is South Africa's largest privately-owned insurance group and provides short-term and life insurance as well as investment products to a diverse customer base, including individual consumers, commercial entities and corporate clients. Our purpose is to enable more people to create and secure a better future.
For more information please contact:
Farhaana Baartman
Email: Farhaana@hollard.co.za
