Major South African insurer’s UK bet paying off

Santam is beginning to reap the rewards of its international expansion, with its United Kingdom operations and investments in India boosting its bottom line. 

In particular, the insurer’s Santam Syndicate 1918, which underwrites insurance in the United Kingdom, has a strong start to life. 

Launched on 1 January 2026, Santam revealed in its interim results that the Syndicate secured R1.3 billion in premium income. 

The insurer said this is enough to make the operation profitable almost overnight, but it cannot recognise all of that revenue under accounting rules. 

Santam explained that the recognition of the revenue from the Syndicate is deferred over a 12-month period due to accounting rules. 

Thus, its financial statements reflect only R461 million in gross written premiums and R87 million in net earned premiums. 

This translated into an underwriting loss of R230 million for the syndicate and a net insurance loss of R229 million. 

Santam made clear that the business will be highly profitable in the years to come, with the loss being a temporary occurrence due to accounting rules.

In parallel to its London expansion, Santam has invested in India. The insurer opened its GIFT City office on 1 April. 

This presence gives Santam access to India’s insurance market, which it already has exposure to through a 14% stake in Shriram General Insurance. 

In its interim results, Shriram shone, with gross written premiums growing by 20% and underwriting margins jumping from 1.7% to 5.9%. 

Shriram also provided Santam with a once-off valuation windfall when Santam’s parent, Sanlam, took control of the Indian insurer. 

Sanlam increased its stake in Shriram to 50.99% in the first half of 2026, giving it control. 

This triggered reporting changes for Santam as it lowered the discount it has to account for in its stake in Shriram. 

The adjustment yielded a fair value gain of R685 million for Santam, which was partially offset by a R175 million forex loss. 

This boosted Santam’s financial performance for the first half of its 2026 financial year, which saw its South African operations come under pressure. 

Santam’s South African underwriting margin fell from 11.3% to 8.1% due to weather-related catastrophes and other large losses it had to absorb. 

Severe storms in Limpopo and the Western Cape pushed weather-related losses in the Western Cape to R1.5 billion. Despite this, its property insurance business remained profitable. 

Overall, Santam’s net income for the period grew by 7% to R2.2 billion, with headline earnings per share rising by 7.1%. 

This allowed Santam to increase its interim dividend per share by 10.2% to R6.50.