LETTER: Old Mutual fails at its primary purpose
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The only good thing about the Old Mutual’s half-year results is that they took only 62 days to prepare and publish (“Old Mutual swings into a loss amid Covid-19 hit” (, September 1). The worst aspect of the report is the codswallop written as a “strategic update”.
The company has become so old that it has forgotten its main purpose, which is to look after the money invested with it by policyholders. Its strategic pillars are declared as:
Old Mutual cares (really?); Always present first (meaning?); Rewarding digital engagement (for whose benefit?); Engaged employees (hopefully with financial competence); Solutions that lead (to what?).
Five years after demutualisation Edward West suggested that 2004 was going to be an annus horribilis for the organisation and asked the question, “how many bad years can one have in a row before horribilis is regarded as typicilis” (sic)?
In 1999 policyholders received shares at R11.75. These shares now trade at about R12. Even if one adds the value of Quilter shares, compound growth in value has been abysmal.
Is there not a clever accountant out there who can take this company back to a future that protects and rewards policyholders?
Chris Richards
Via e-mail
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto://letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
The company has become so old that it has forgotten its main purpose, which is to look after the money invested with it by policyholders. Its strategic pillars are declared as:
Old Mutual cares (really?); Always present first (meaning?); Rewarding digital engagement (for whose benefit?); Engaged employees (hopefully with financial competence); Solutions that lead (to what?).
Five years after demutualisation Edward West suggested that 2004 was going to be an annus horribilis for the organisation and asked the question, “how many bad years can one have in a row before horribilis is regarded as typicilis” (sic)?
In 1999 policyholders received shares at R11.75. These shares now trade at about R12. Even if one adds the value of Quilter shares, compound growth in value has been abysmal.
Is there not a clever accountant out there who can take this company back to a future that protects and rewards policyholders?
Chris Richards
Via e-mail
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto://letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.