From contributing to relief efforts and supporting communities across their global footprint, Sanlam are in the serious business of helping clients grow and protect their wealth.
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed serious challenges in the lives of many and has had a severe impact on our economy and livelihoods. Sanlam has always been passionate about supporting their staff, clients and communities at large. This is evident in their collective efforts to help fight the unique global challenge we are currently facing.
To date, Sanlam has shown its solidarity to fighting the pandemic, through the following:
Supporting clients and staff
To assist clients, Sanlam introduced payment relief on savings plans, risk cover policies, personal loan repayments and funeral benefits. An investment in technology has also helped to strengthen communication between clients and intermediaries. R162 million of Covid-19 related claims were paid by Sanlam Individual Life between March and August 2020, which comprised of over R17 million paid to clients for sickness and income protection benefits and over R144 million paid in death and funeral claims.
To make sure that staff is safe and the business is in a position to support them, 90% of staff has been enabled to work from home since the outbreak of Covid-19. In Jun Sanlam staff were encouraged to donate to the Solidarity Fund through payroll giving. For each staff donation, Sanlam committed to match the amount, to a maximum of R20 million. To date, Sanlam staff have donated R4 024 937, which Sanlam has matched, leading to a further R8 049 874 donation to the Solidarity Fund.
Donating to relief efforts
In partnership with the Motsepe Family and the companies associated with them, R1 billion has been pledged to assist with the current pandemic. Several hundred million rands have been made available with the primary objective of saving lives and slowing down the spread of Covid-19, including the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Driving job preservation and creation
Sanlam Investments plans to support the recovery of South African companies, from small enterprises to corporates that employ a large number of people through the Investor’s Legacy range. R2.25 billion of its capital has been used to seed three impact funds that will back companies negatively affected by Covid-19, which have a strong likelihood of producing sustainable cash flows after the pandemic should they receive the required financial support. Each fund focuses on a different part of the market – SMEs, mid-market and large corporates – and will provide financing in the most appropriate form, whether it be in the form of loans or equity investment.
The Sanlam Enterprise and Supplier Development Programme approved R2.1 million to assist their beneficiaries with cash flow analysis and support, funding relief and PPE.
Sanlam has a rich history of always putting staff, their clients and our country first. We need to get through this crisis and then rebuild our economies on an inclusive growth basis. Sanlam is here to help.