PPS Integrated Report 2021 Who we are and what makes us different | 12 The needs of our professional members are, however, often specialised and complex, and individual advisers cannot be specialists in all areas across the vast spectrum of personal financial planning. Therefore, all our advisers – whether employed at PPS or independent – can tap into the resources available from our Specialist Support Services (S3) unit. The S3 team – a group of highly qualified and skilled individuals – is available to assist members’ financial advisers with specialised input. They are not intended to replace financial advisers, though, and are not permitted to implement the advice. Their role is to be a resource that can be drawn on for specialised interventions. In summary, our promise at PPS regarding the S3 value proposition is two-fold: firstly, professional members can engage with professionals when undertaking their financial planning (pro-on-pro) and, secondly, the interaction is void of any sales pressure, as implementation is not permitted. This arrangement is unique in South Africa and is fundamental to our value proposition to members. Income protection and life insurance Income protection and life insurance are the solutions most often associated with us and were the first to be developed and offered by our founders. Over the past eight decades we have continuously refined these original offerings, explored the ramifications of potential scenarios and developed added-value features and new products to provide additional peace of mind. The PPS Sickness and Permanent Incapacity benefit (sickness cover) is, for instance, a bespoke product for professionals that is unparalleled in the South African environment. It is the leading and most competitive product of its kind. The sickness cover pays out if a member falls ill for a period of time and – unlike competitive products – does so without the member having to prove that they did not receive any remuneration during the period of being incapacitated. PPS also offers life, lump-sum disability, accidental death, critical illness and education products that are all intrinsically superior to similar products available in the market as members who have them qualify and benefit from a built-in Profit-Share benefit. Other differentiators include automatically covering our members when they travel or reside outside of South Africa without loadings, restrictions or exclusions; no limit to the number of claims; and automatic cover for potentially hazardous pursuits such as scuba diving, flying private aeroplanes and motorcycle racing at no additional premium. With our in-depth understanding of the graduate professional market, we have made allowance for the fact that many members enjoy energetic pursuits outside of their professions. Also, unlike many other products from competitors, our members’ ProfitShare Accounts are not reduced if they claim. We believe that so-called no-claim benefits go against what insurance is all about. Savings and investments Saving and investing are fundamental to financial security. Over the years, members had often admired how their profits had been invested and expressed a desire to be able to benefit from our investment philosophy and business acumen, as well as from investment services provided at cost without leakage to shareholders. In keeping with the ethos of mutuality and the belief that success is better shared, we, therefore, made savings and investment solutions available to our members through PPS Investments (PPSI) – an investment management services provider for graduate professionals and their families. PPSI offers the full spectrum of investment solutions that professionals require for different tax benefits – including living and retirement annuity funds, personal pension funds, preservation funds and investment accounts – and across different risk-return fund solutions. Whether investing ultra-long-term for retirement, saving for a more specific short-term goal or preserving existing savings, PPSI offers members tax-efficient savings and investment solutions for every stage of life. A major differentiator – aligned with the principle of mutuality – is that members with qualifying risk products are eligible to share in the investment administration and management profits. Short-Term Insurance Following on our success with our sickness and permanent incapacity cover and life insurance – and driven by the desire expressed by some of our members to have all their financial services products housed within the PPS community – we started offering short-term insurance solutions via PPS Short-Term Insurance which addresses members’ motor vehicle, home and business insurance needs. PPS Short-Term Insurance is unlike any other shortterm insurance business. Firstly, we only serve graduate professionals. The solutions and unique added-value services we provide are exclusively tailored to meet our members’ specific needs. Secondly, the short-term insurance business, like the
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