Risks, challenges and opportunities As in 2020, the most important challenge for the business was dealing with the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A life insurance business, by its very nature, will of course be impacted by a health pandemic. The strained economy was a significant factor, as was the impact of the civil unrest in July 2021 and the effects of continuing political instability and the lack of execution of good economic policies. Access to graduate students and new graduates was restricted due to various levels of lockdown, but this cohort has been quick to respond to digital forms of engagement, which we continue to develop. Emigration dropped off in 2020, but it did pick up again when lockdown restrictions were eased, and the emigration of professionals remains a risk for PPS. On the positive side though, professionals have become more aware of the need to protect themselves and their families against unforeseen life events. This awareness supported the uptake of risk products, fiduciary services and medical aid cover. PPS has established its own brokerage, Financial Solutions 4 Professionals (FS4P), which experienced encouraging growth in 2021. Over the year the number of independent financial advisers in FS4P has grown from 30 to 42, servicing more than 4 500 clients. PPS Specialist Support Services (S3) is a significant added value too. This unit is made up of a team of professionals whose sole purpose is to offer their expertise to the financial advisers who serve PPS members. In 2021 we extended our range of training courses available to financial advisers through the PPS Academy and have made significant strides in moving towards providing training and engagement opportunities on digital platforms. These included training programmes designed to facilitate the move to remote and hybrid working as well as to enhance digital skills among financial advisers. For many financial advisers in the professional market segment, the PPS Academy has become their primary source of continuing professional development. Innovation Recent innovations at PPS Group level have been a fitting way to mark our 80th anniversary. The most notable of these was the introduction of the PPS Profit-Share Cross-Holdings Booster in 2020, which is delivering significant value for members who hold products across the PPS business units. We launched a major enhancement to our Critical Illness Cover in January 2021, extending coverage for critical illness to early-stage diagnoses to allow for much better treatment outcomes. The limit for potential payouts for cancer and cardiovascular illness were also increased, new disease categories were added and Child Critical Illness benefits were enhanced. We introduced several learning innovations through the PPS Academy, which have been very well received. These include a series of Did You Know? sessions for financial advisers, which are designed to give them an in-depth understanding of the entire PPS product suite. In addition, we are developing an online intermediary engagement platform, which will give financial advisers faster access to information and help them to model Profit-Share outcomes for clients who have qualifying PPS products. This will be rolled out in 2022. Looking ahead In 2021, we came full circle. PPS was founded during the global crisis of World War II and is currently operating within the context of another global crisis, albeit of a different nature. Throughout our 80-year history, we have proven the value of our mutual model, with the business not only remaining stable, but profitable, throughout its long history. As we look to the future, we are confident that the business is recovering well from the initial impact of the pandemic and we are positive about our prospects for 2022. We will continue to focus on adding new members, cross-solutioning to existing members, and providing strong support for our adviser network, especially with the introduction of the new intermediary enablement platform. We will continue to enrich the overall PPS offering of products and services. 57 | PPS Group performance at a glance PPS Integrated Report 2021
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