Liberty Life Insurance

Liberty Life Insurance is one of the veritable stalwarts of the South African financial services and insurance sector. With its wide-ranging involvement in almost all aspects of the economy - from property leasing to sports sponsorship, it has become a household name. This familiarity is not just built on appearances though - the company has an illustrious history of operating in many aspects of the insurance market. It has a full complement of insurance products, from long-term insurance and life assurance, to medical insurance, lifestyle protection, investment advice, corporate insurance solutions and all manner of insurance related products and services. This has placed it in a position of being one of the dominant players in the industry. It is a blue chip share on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, and has aligned itself with one of the major banks in the country, as part of the Standard Bank Group.

Liberty Life Insurance falls into the category of brokered insurance, as it uses a wide network of licensed insurance brokers and financial advisors to market its products and liaise with clients. In its main field of insurance, it focuses on four primary areas: life assurance, lifestyle protection, income protection and, most recently, policy protection. This is part of its expanded services approach that links primary cover with protection for life quality, which is the main value added service that the company provides. This is in keeping with overall trends in the insurance industry, as primary insurance is increasingly supplemented by all manner of additional cover and protection.

Liberty Life also plays an influential role in community development. There are plenty of community projects that it is involved in, or has initiated. This is part of a massive CSI effort on its part - partly as a response to the need for such support, but also obviously because it makes good business sense in the modern world of public relations. It focuses specifically on education, and has invested more than $350 million in education programmes - much needed in that sector in this country. Its emphasis is on mathematics and science, as these areas have been identified as particularly critical, and it sponsors the long-running educational TV channel.