Our philosophy
We offer our clients the tools and advice to own their lives.By empowering them to take ownership of their financial future, we enable them to control their destiny.
Our duty is to provide knowledge and information – clearly and with integrity – so that our clients can make the right decisions and become financially successful. Our flexible product solutions enable our clients to adapt them to their changing life needs.
We commit to providing our clients with a strong, financial partnership that they know and can trust.
The success of our customers is inextricably linked to our success.
Our business vision
We aim to be the leading wealth manager in Africa and other select emerging markets. The future success of our family of specialised wealth brands and partnerships will lie in our continued ability to:
- Leverage both the power of our specialisation and the collective strength of our group
- Execute strategy through enlisting, mobilising, and partnering with outstanding people
Our heritage
In its first 50 years, Liberty has become one of South Africa’s leading insurance and investment groups.
Among our stakeholders are over 2 million individual policyholders, more than 386 450 pension funds and some 9 066 shareholders. In 2008, Liberty collected R14.8billion in total insurance premiums, and by June 2009 had total assets under management of R330 billion.
Our asset manager STANLIB, had assets under management ofR291 billion, and is South Africa’s largest unit trust manager. Liberty is also the largest property developer in South Africa.
Liberty also has a proud track record for innovation in the South African financial services industry, including:
- First life company to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (as then known)
- Launching the first retirement annuity in South Africa
- Co-founding the first unit trusts (mutual funds) in South Africa
- Co-underwriting the first dread disease cover in South Africa
- First to combine occupational disability and impairment
- First to revolutionise the medical insurance industry with “Medical Lifestyle”
- First to introduce “Nurses on the Road”
- First company to introduce umbrella funds for the corporate pensions market
- First to introduce a formal Financial Needs Analysis process, withour revolutionary “Blueprint” software – and now once again taking financial planning to a new level, with the introduction of “Wealth Connexion”.
- First to drive higher professional standards by introducing compulsory product accreditation for financial advisers, (…and we still train more advisers than any of our competitors)
- First to respond to market demands for revised commission structures
- First life company to recognise the strategic value of real estate investment
- First to develop regional shopping centres in South Africa
Transformation
In several separate respects, transformational issues provide both Liberty and the wider industry with a number of opportunities:
- Business transformation, as our interests broaden frombeing a South African life insurer to a pan-African wealth manager
- Industry transformation, as we re-engineer our processes to reflect our customer-centric business philosophy
- Human capital transformation, as we implement the demographic requirements of the Financial Services Charter
Sustainability
Other important sustainability issues facing Liberty today:
- Managing the current business through the recession, while executing our longer-term growth strategy
- Effective capital and risk management – providing value to shareholders, while protecting policyholders’ interests
- Attracting and retaining the right people
- Meeting increased demand for innovative wealth management solutions
- Responding effectively to government, health and retirement industry proposals, and adherence to regulation