Empowering Advisors: Strategies for Identifying Insurance Gaps

How well protected are South Africans really? According to Old Mutual's latest claims experience and the findings of the ASISA Protection Gap Study, the answer is: not nearly enough.  In this conversation, Tony van Niekerk sits down with Arno Jansen van Vuuren, Head of Product: Retail Marketing, Old Mutual, to unpack the realities behind South Africa's widening insurance protection gap. Using real claims data alongside industry research, Arno explains why severe illness claims continue to rise, why cancer remains the leading driver across multiple benefit categories, and why underinsurance affects even affluent consumers.  The discussion explores why affordability alone cannot explain the protection gap. Instead, many consumers underestimate both their personal risk and the long-term financial consequences of illness or disability, while overestimating the protection they already have in place.  For advisers, the conversation offers practical guidance on identifying these gaps through better education, more meaningful client conversations and regular financial reviews that evolve alongside changing life stages. Arno also discusses how product flexibility and solutions designed around customer outcomes, rather than products alone, can help advisers deliver more relevant protection throughout a client's lifetime.  Whether you're an adviser, insurer or financial planner, this discussion provides valuable insight into today's claims trends, changing customer needs and the important role advice plays in helping South Africans build greater financial resilience.