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PREMIER Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) is planning to venture into funeral business as it expands its footprints on the local market.
The funeral business would be running by the end of the year, according to group CEO Mr Cuthbert Dube.“By the end of the year, PSMAS will have a funeral company. If we find there is need for a joint venture with an existing company, we will do that,” Mr Dube said.
“We want to give decent burials to our policyholders and assist those who would have remained.”
PSMAS is set to join the growing funeral business which recorded a 49 percent increase in net premiums to $19 million in the first quarter of the year from the same period last year, according to a report by the Insurance and Pensions Commission.
The $19 million is a 49 percent growth from $12 million reported for the comparative period last year.
Four companies – Nyaradzo, Moonlight, Doves and First Funeral, which accounted for 90 percent of the business written in the first quarter of the year, dominate the industry.
The industry reported an operating profit of $6 million despite a growing combined ratio of 70 percent exacerbated by increasing operational and claims costs.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo