7 / 184
OUR VALUES
At PPS, we believe that what we value internally will drive our
behaviour externally. We live by the following values:
• We have enduring financial strength through a long-term
focus.
• We recognise the uniqueness of our members by providing
them with products to meet their specific needs.
• We deliver service excellence to our members.
• We conduct our business with the highest standards
of governance, integrity, fairness and respect for all
stakeholders.
OUR STRATEGY
The needs of the graduate professional have been central to
our strategic intent for the last 76 years. We have designed
our products and service models accordingly and believe that
the mutual model provides long-term benefits to our members
that cannot be matched.
Our strategy therefore focuses on:
• mutuality and growing membership
• group sustainability
• distribution.
WHY IS PPS UNIQUE?
THE MUTUAL ETHOS
Unlike most financial services providers in South Africa,
PPS is not listed on the stock exchange and has no external
shareholders – instead, PPS operates under the ethos of
mutuality and all profits are allocated to PPS members with
qualifying products on an annual basis by way of allocations to
their PPS Profit-Share Accounts.
Thismeans that
all
the profits and investment returns generated
by the PPS Group are allocated to its qualifying members.
Mutuality is central to our success. Profits and investment
returns are reinvested, with a long-term mindset, on members’
behalf. These funds accumulate in our members’ PPS
Profit-Share Accounts, (irrespective of their claims) and vest
free of tax at retirement, resignation from PPS or death. This
benefit has no rival in South Africa.
FOCUSONTHE GRADUATE PROFESSIONALMARKET
PPS stands apart from all other financial service
providers,distinguished by:
• Only qualifying graduate professionals whomeet our criteria
• A business model based on mutuality – our members are
the de facto shareholders.
As such, member interests inform all our decisions and actions.
PPS has operated according to this model since our founding
76 years ago – and will continue doing so.
LONG-TERMMINDSET
PPS is not focused on delivering short-term returns to
shareholders. PPS is focused on creating and sustaining
long-term growth and wealth, recognising that there is an
alignment of the interests of policyholders – unique to the
insurance industry in South Africa.
The mutual structure allows our stable management team
and the Board to adopt a long-term approach to running the
business, deploying sustainable long-term strategies, which
make the most efficient use of capital, and benefit all the
generations of professionals we serve.
MEMBERS’ RETURNS
PPS members shared in over R3.7 billion (2016: R2.7 billion) of
PPS profits and investment returns during the year.
PPS has shared a total of R16 billion in profits and investment
returns with its members over the last five years, and R25 billion
over the last ten years.
Once members retire from their PPS Insurance products,
the profits they have accumulated over the course of their
membership through their PPS Profit-Share Account will
vest. The profits will become accessible via the Vested PPS
Profit-Share Account, irrespective of whether they had claimed
or not and vests at retirement from age 60. This is a unique
statistic in the South African insurance sector. The Vested
PPS Profit-Share Account allows members to keep their PPS
Profit-Share Account assets invested for longer to generate
further returns and supplement their retirement savings.
GOVERNANCE
PPS Insurance is a registered insurer and is subject to the
same governance requirements as a listed insurer. A unique
additional layer of governance is the fact that our members and
professional associations are represented at the PPS Holding
Trust Board level – the ultimate control structure of the Group.
There is no other insurance company in South Africa where
policyholders are specifically represented at Board level.
5