It's 'natural' to share info during a pandemic, says Sanlam CEO amid competition crackdown

Sanlam CEO Paul Hanratty says that more than two weeks are the Competition Commission's dawn raids, the company is no wiser about the allegations of collusion levelled against it and seven other insurers in SA.

The commission raided the premises of Sanlam, Old Mutual, Momentum, PPS, Discovery, Hollard, Bidvest Life and Blackrock on 25 August. It has accused these insurers of engaging in "collusive practices" to fix prices and trading conditions affecting fees for retirement annuities (RAs) and a host of other risk insurance products. Liberty was the only big insurer not raided, but it is part of the insurers under investigation.

The commission previously said that it began its probe in 2021 and has found evidence that the insurers shared information before they formulated pricing on new products – even sharing passcodes to access other's systems. But it has not shared any more details beyond the basics communicated during the raids. Hanratty said that even as part of the accused parties, they, too, know no more than what the public knows.