Leading the way for life

"During the three decades that followed, Discovery has grown from strength to strength, taking this business model to new heights year-on-year," says Discovery Life Deputy Chief Executive, Gareth Friedlander.

"Key reasons as to why it works so well is that it's dynamic and agile, and importantly, linked to a fundamental purpose. For Discovery, this purpose is to 'make people healthier, and enhance and protect their lives'. With this purpose at the very heart of it all, every business that has been launched within the Group has been able to not only embrace this, but also generate growth enabled by continuous relevance within various product design and service offerings."

"And Discovery Life is but one business arm that has been able to flourish for over two decades with the Group's purpose as its compass and Shared-value business model as the foundation that underpins it all," he adds.

More than 20 years of innovating the life insurance industry

"Back in 2000, Discovery Life was launched with the idea that the Group's core purpose and value proposition alongside the evolving nature of insuretech could re-shape the life insurance market," says Friedlander. "And it has. It continues to."

"Year-on-year we've seen how this interlinks so well with the lives of the people who become our clients. The Shared-value model quite literally translates into people's actual lives, making a difference by encouraging healthy behaviours. And this extends into society too. It also enables business growth from Discovery's perspective, creating a perpetual cycle of generated benefits for all. And best of all, the model remains constantly relevant," he explains further.

Relevance is important. It doesn't simply keep business ticking over. It also translates well into growth.

"Through this COVID-19 pandemic, Discovery Life remained robust but agile; providing unprecedented levels of protection for our clients when they needed it most while at the same time continuing to innovate and evolve in the changing global environment"

"The business maintains robust capital and liquidity positions. This is despite Discovery Life paying out over R6 billion in COVID-19 related claims. Although this did impact earnings, we as a business take stock of the true value of this - families have been covered and protected, at least financially speaking so far during this pandemic. Our core purpose has remained strong," adds Friedlander. "Despite the pandemic, the business has experienced growth recently with improvements in normalised operating profit, new business API and strong capital and liquidity positions."

Enhancing shared-value with new and improved business offerings

Healthier clients generate a 'health surplus' that can be passed back to them. One way of doing this is through enhanced Shared-value product and service offerings. This surplus effectively powers an ability to design products that don't just offer relevant cover, but that also unlock benefits with the long-term in mind. Additionally, clients are rewarded continually when healthier lifestyles are maintained.

"Discovery Life has paid out R9.1 billion in PayBacks to date and continues to payout R3.3 million in PayBacks every day of the year. Another reward mechanism is the Cash Conversion benefit which paid out an R11 million lump sum to a single client last year as an example," says Friedlander. "Since the launch of our Shared-value reward structure, we've paid out more and more in health-based rewards. 2021 saw PayBacks and Cash Conversions payouts totalling 27% of total claims. These are life insurance payouts for being healthy. We also project this to increase to around 50% in approximately 15 years' time. This is a new paradigm for life insurance - being there for clients in the worst of times but also rewarding them richly for healthy behaviour at the same time."

Discovery Life is growing and innovating as a business and has achieved much through this pandemic period thus far. "We became the first insurer globally to reward clients for vaccination - a behaviour choice that has saved many lives. We enhanced our severe illness cover to factor in cover for COVID-19 and similar conditions. These are just two of many innovations launched in the last two years," says Friedlander.

"Another key innovation from many years ago which has suddenly become very relevant is our clients' unique ability to lock in a fully guaranteed premium for life through engagement in the Vitality programme," he adds.

So, what's new in Discovery Life's product suite?

• A more efficient and valuable business assurance offering. Clients can get an upfront premium discount of up to 42% and up to 50% in PayBacks through the Business Integrator. Now, for a limited period, clients can also get a 40% boost to their base life and disability cover for three years at no additional initial premium with the Double Business Vitality Fund Offer.
• A highly competitive premium for Purple Life Plan clients. Clients can now boost their initial Purple Vitality Fund to provide a total of 40% additional base life cover at no additional initial premium over the first three years of their policy with the new Double Purple Vitality Fund Offer.
• An opportunity to enhance whole of life income protection. Clients can now get a 20% discount on Income Continuation Benefit premiums for three years with the Buy-Up Income Continuation Fund Offer, as well as boosted payouts on Category A permanent disability claims for two years with the 150% Buy-Up Income Continuation Benefit Offer.

** All four of these offers run from 1 April through to 30 June 2022

"All in all, these offers don't just enhance your cover in the short-term, but long into the future too. Clients can benefit from more efficient premiums, rewards and opportunities to boost their future financial security, well into their retirement years if they'd like to. It's Shared-value, which offers more than just holistic, comprehensive life insurance cover. It encourages healthier lifestyles for our clients and their families and rewards them richly for doing so." Friedlander concludes.