There will be large-scale loss of businesses if Sasria can't pay claims on time - Stuart Pringle

The social unrest in South Africa in July caused extensive damage to 161 malls and shopping centres, as well as 11 warehouses, eight factories, and 161 liquor outlets and distributors. Clothing retailer Mr Price Group Ltd. saw 109 stores entirely cleaned out and hundreds more closed. As Bloomberg reported, while some claims would be assessed by Old Mutual Group and Santam, the bulk of the burden fell to state-owned Sasria Insurance. "We are well capitalised and have adequate reinsurance in place that gives us the comfort that we can facilitate these claims," Sasria’s executive manager for insurance operations, Fareedah Benjamin, said in an interview. Sasria also claimed that it had centralised all applications so "its most experienced handlers are able to process them quickly". However, Stuart Pringle, risk transfer consultant at Royal Union, is concerned that, due to the sheer number of business claims, Sasria won't be able to pay out in time. "Nobody's saying Sasria doesn't know how to do its job. Nobody's saying that they're not trying and they're not really looking at the situation. But the capacity and the numbers don't add up so let's get together and sort it out as an industry. The big insurance companies are there to help," he says. He joined BizNews to spread more light on the issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices