JOHANNESBURG – The resort that Johannesburg-born Sol Kerzner sold last year to Dubai’s Investment Conference, Sun City, will next week host the continent’s largest insurance conference.
Nearly 2 000 people from 389 organisations representing 28 countries will descend on the North West province-located golf and gambling paradise to hear from insurance executives, regulators and economists.
The headline speaker this year is Inga Beale, the first female chief executive of Lloyd’s of London: the 325-year old insurance market best known for covering some of the world’s largest, and most unusual, risks.
Beale, described by the Financial Times as a “steely trailblazer shaking up a masculine bastion”, was previously group chief executive of Canopius, the prominent Lloyd’s managing agent. She took over from Dr Richard Ward in January 2014, who was a former chairman of the International Petroleum Exchange and holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Exeter.
Lizé Lambrechts, Santam’s first female CEO, will also be addressing conference delegates on her perspective of the short-term insurance industry. Lambrechts, who took over from Ian Kirk in January this year, was the chief executive of Sanlam Personal Finance for 12 years.
She has spent her entire career in long-term insurance, joining Sanlam in 1985 as an actuary, and is still finding her feet in the general insurance space. Kirk is now deputy group chief executive of Sanlam and will take over from CEO Johan van Zyl when he retires at the end of this year.
Now in its 42nd year, the Insurance Conference has been themed ‘Risky Business: the insurance solution’ under the banner Africa Rising. Delegates are expected from across the African continent, as well as France, Germany, Switzerland, Bahrain, the United States, India and Japan, to name a few.
“This event provides the platform to engage with the regulatory authorities and the captains of our industry. We welcome all and particularly our overseas delegates, whose interest in our industry has grown and we pleased to hear that trading partnerships have been secured,” said David Harpur, CEO of conference organiser and industry body the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA).
Moneyweb will be covering the event.