South African life assurers reported significant increases in dishonest and fraudulent long-term insurance claims for 2016.  The trend is picking up with the majority of dishonest claims being in the funeral industry.

Funeral claims

The biggest increase in irregular claims, mainly involving misrepresentation and material non-disclosure, was reported for funeral policies. An unprecedented 11 302 claims worth R168.3m were foiled in 2016. In 2015, there were 2 325 irregular funeral claims worth R45.8m.

• The bank was established in 1982 as the Venda Burial Society “VBS”.
• 2000 VBS Received mutual banking licence.
• 2013 CEO Andile Ramavhunga puts turnaround strategy in place to improve the bank profits.
• 2015 VBS Bank makes a profit of R1 million.
• 2016 Presidency announces that VBS will loan former President Jacob Zuma R7.8 million for upgrades to his Nkandla home.
• Also 2016 the bank starts receiving large amounts of municipal deposits.
• 2016 the banks profit increase to R4.6 million
• 2017 South African Reserve Bank “SAR