Indaba 2025: Cape Town

Registration / Networking lunch

Welcome

Risk without borders: Insurance in the age of uncertainty

Paul's early experiences in South Africa as an actuarial analyst set the stage for his career in insurance and reinsurance. The region, a hotbed for innovation, continues to make an excellent springboard for an international insurance career. While risks have changed over the past three decades, some things haven't: partnerships between insurance industry stakeholders remain critical to closing protection gaps and boosting societal resilience.

Navigating uncertainties with behavioural science

As insurance professionals, we rely on expert judgment to interpret complex risks and anticipate future developments. However, even with the best of intentions, judgment is inherently imperfect—susceptible to bias, inconsistency, and uncertainty.

This session will examine how the disciplines of behavioral science and decision science can strengthen forecasting by enhancing the human dimension of decision-making.

Break

Talent on the edge: building capabilities for a resilient future

The future of insurance depends on how boldly we attract, grow, and retain talent. South Africa’s deep but misaligned talent pool can be reshaped into the scarce skills our industry urgently needs. Drawing on global and local insights, we will share practical actions and partnerships to reskill, retain and inspire talent. Expect a positive, forward-looking message on building resilience through people – the true foundation of our industry’s future.

The impact of technology on the mind

This presentation delves into the evolving relationship between the human mind and the digital world. As technology and social media become increasingly embedded in our daily lives, we examine how they influence attention, memory, emotional well-being, and decision-making. Drawing on psychological research and real-world data, we aim to uncover both the benefits and the cognitive costs of our hyperconnected era—raising critical questions about how we think, feel, and interact in a digitally-driven society.

Break

The weight is over: metabolic health and the impact of GLP-1 drugs

Widespread use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs to treat obesity could reduce cumulative mortality in the general population by up to 6.4% in the US and 5.1% in the UK by 2045, Swiss Re’s modelling projects. We anticipate mortality reductions in cardiovascular disease (CVD), and lower morbidity in a range of other conditions, if clinical trial results are replicated in the real world. This has significant implications for Life and Health insurance portfolios. However, GLP-1 drugs seem unlikely to be the sole solution to societal metabolic ill-health.

Closing

Networking & Canapes