FIA announces winners at 2015 Awards gala

The Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA) announced the 2015 FIA Awards winners at a gala dinner in Johannesburg last night (4 June).
 
Sanlam and Hollard were the big winners at the ceremony, with each company taking home two awards. Among the night’s winners were also Bestmed, Santam, Discovery, Allan Gray and CIA. (For a table of the winners scroll down.)
 
One of the biggest surprises to come out of the evening was the awarding of Healthcare Supplier of the Year to Bestmed, unseating previous winner Discovery Health, who had won the award every year since its introduction in 2008.
 
Hollard Insurance walked away with two awards from the Short Term Insurance Category: the Short Term Insurer of the Year – Corporate award, and the Short Term Insurance of the Year – Commercial Lines award.
 
Santam took home the award for Short Term Insurer of the Year – Personal Lines. This is the fifth time that it has won this award since 2007.
 
The award for Underwriting Manager of the Year went to CIA.
 
Jay Ramsunder, president of FIA said: “To excel in the FIA Awards process a financial services firm must meet and exceed our members’ expectations of product supplier quality under the headings product, service and relationship.”
 
He added: “This year, as in the past, we acknowledge the complex relationships that exist between advice giver and product supplier to ensure the best possible outcome for consumers.”
 
According to FIA, over 7 000 contracts were evaluated over an 11 week period through an extensive survey of FIA members in order to determine the winner of each category. The survey was conducted by Bluestream Research.
 
Pieter Aucamp, CEO of Bluestream Research pointed out: “The main objective of the FIA benchmark survey is to determine and recognise South Africa’s top performing product suppliers, independently rated on intermediary satisfaction. There is a great deal of value in the consistent benchmarking process that has been perfected over the decade that Bluestream has been involved in the survey and we are now in the unique position of having comparable ‘broker perception’ data over a lengthy timeframe.”
 
The winners
 
Justus van Pletzen, CEO of FIA, noted: “While the FIA Awards present an ideal platform for product suppliers to be recognised for going that extra mile, we should not lose sight of the role that valuable and reputable advice plays in assisting consumers to secure their financial futures.”
 

2015 FIA Awards winners
Category	Company
Short-Term Insurer of the Year – Personal Lines	Santam
Short-Term Insurer of the Year – Commercial	Hollard
Short-Term Insurer of the Year – Corporate	Hollard
Underwriting Manager of the Year	CIA
Long-Term Insurer of the Year – Risk	Discovery
Product Supplier of the Year – Investment Products Single Premium	Allan Gray
Product Supplier of the Year – Investment Products Recurring Premium	Sanlam
Product Supplier of the Year – Employee Benefits	Sanlam
Product Supplier of the Year – Healthcare	Bestmed

Source: FIA