How South African insurer assets and capital cover changed by segment

Life primary assets and liabilities both grew

Life primary assets rose from R4.49 trillion to R5.23 trillion, while liabilities rose from R4.12 trillion to R4.83 trillion. The group reported R5.01 trillion in investments at the later date. The asset growth rate does not show a change in profit. Source 1

Non-life primary and captive balance sheets changed at different scales

Non-life primary insurers’ assets rose 16.6% to R261.09 billion. Non-life cell captives rose 14.4% to R66.78 billion and non-life captives 16.1% to R44.21 billion. Life cell captive assets fell 13.5% to R26.26 billion. Source 1

Median solvency cover was 1.8 times for life primary insurers

The solvency capital requirement cover median rose from 1.7 to 1.8 for life primary insurers. The median stayed at 1.7 for non-life primary insurers and increased from 2.0 to 2.2 for non-life captives. The minimum capital requirement uses a separate threshold. Source 1

Group totals and medians answer different questions

Asset and liability totals combine submissions within each insurer category. The cover median describes the middle reported ratio rather than a ratio calculated from the group balance sheet. It does not identify the capital position of an individual insurer. Source 1

Sources

• South African Reserve Bank Prudential Authority, Selected South African Insurance Sector, March 2026
• South African Reserve Bank, insurance sector statistics publication record