Press Release

04 May 2017: PPS Insurance Namibia, the Namibian financial services company focused exclusively on graduate professionals, has announced that total profit share allocations to members* for the 2016 financial year amounted to N$83.1 million.

The company, which is the largest company in Namibia operating under a mutual model – which means that all PPS Insurance Namibia's profits are allocated to PPS Insurance Namibia members on an annual basis by way of allocations to their PPS Profit-Share Accounts** – confirmed a 9.6% increase in total assets to just over N$1 billion.

Adri Vermeulen, Chief Executive of PPS Insurance Namibia, says members have benefited hugely from their ability to share in the profits of the company in recent years. "Over the last ten years, PPS Insurance Namibia has allocated over N$752.6 million to its members*, making it by far the largest and most successful mutual company in Namibia."

Izak Smit, Group CEO of PPS South Africa, says that 2016 was a very volatile year, not only for Southern Africa but the world. "Locally we experienced fluctuations in the value of the rand, while globally we saw the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union and witnessed a dramatic and unexpected result in the US elections. However, PPS was not impacted by these unexpected events, and instead stood strong in times of uncertainty and reaped rewards for its members." 

"Our members have a unique value proposition by belonging to PPS, as they receive all the profits of the company via allocations to their PPS Profit-Share Account. Upon retirement**, they qualify for a lump sum pay-out of all the accumulated profits," says Vermeulen.

An increased interest in the mutuality model is taking place globally, with the total market share of mutual and cooperatives insurers increasing from 23.7% in 2007 to 27% in 2015, according to the latest statistics from the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF).

"We are extremely pleased with the performance of PPS Insurance Namibia during the last year. These results demonstrate the strength of members belonging to a mutual financial services company. As the PPS Insurance Namibia business continues to grow, our members* benefit by receiving all of the profits of the company via the allocations to their PPS ProfitShare Account," concludes Vermeulen.

* PPS members with qualifying products
** The PPS Profit-Share Account vests from age 60 onwards. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance.