AgriSeker to offer farmers a single go-to for crop insurance
GENRIC Insurance and Land Bank Insurance are backing agricultural underwriting management company, AgriSeker Onderskrywing, in creating an asset insurance, in South Africa, that will give farmers access to risk management solutions that are far more encompassing and specialised than before, and all from a single platform.  The portfolio will be moulded around each farmer's specific needs, rather than focusing on a certain product offering which the farmer has to fit into.  
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AgriSeker poised to offer farmers a single go-to for crop and asset insurance

15 September 2015 GENRIC

GENRIC Insurance, Land Bank Insurance backs crop UMA’s expansion into agri asset insurance.

A new deal, cemented between coinsurance partners GENRIC Insurance Company and Land Bank Insurance Company, will give farmers access to risk management solutions that are far more encompassing and specialised than ever before, all from a single platform.

AgriSeker Onderskrywing, an agricultural underwriting management agency (UMA) that houses South Africa’s second-largest crop insurance portfolio, will launch an asset insurance leg to its business on 1 September that will be underwritten jointly by GENRIC and Land Bank Insurance.

Land Bank Insurance already has a strategic partnership with AgriSeker since March this year, when Land Bank Insurance announced that it had entered the crop insurance business by underwriting AgriSeker Onderskrywing’s policies. Now Land Bank Insurance is set to expand its offering to its clients into asset insurance, in conjunction with GENRIC.

“We are now offering brokers and intermediaries access to asset insurance, as well as crop insurance, all on one platform through AgriSeker,” says Mpumi Tyikwe, Managing Director at Land Bank Insurance. “This clearly simplifies the process and eliminates a host of challenges intermediaries might face if they had to seek crop and asset insurance from separate service providers.”

A-class insurance backing

The existing AgriSeker Onderskrywing will continue to operate as the crop insurance vehicle, while AgriSeker Bate will be the UMA’s asset insurance arm.

The UMA’s full range of products are underwritten by AA+ rated Land Bank Insurance, while A- rated GENRIC Insurance will also be co-underwriting the asset insurance policies, giving rock-solid security to brokers and their clients in the event of claims payments.

Additionally, the expansion of AgriSeker within the fold of the GENRIC and Land Bank Insurance partnership gives farmers the opportunity to tailor their risk management solutions to a tee, since GENRIC offers risk management tools that can be customised around every farmer’s unique position, business, risk profile and budget.

“As a coinsurance partner with Land Bank Insurance, farmers now have access not just to crop and asset insurance, but to a range of products that speak to the farmer’s other needs that include health and accident, marine for the large export farmer, general commercial insurance, and heavy vehicle insurance, to name a few, that we can tailor according to each farmer’s precise situation,” says Cornel Schoeman, Chief Commercial Officer at GENRIC.

Focus on emerging farmers

The UMA’s extended offering and the fact that it is backed by both Land Bank Insurance and its partner GENRIC brings the focus onto the farmer, creating a risk management portfolio moulded around each farmer’s specific needs, rather than focusing on a certain product offering which the farmer’s portfolio has to fit into.

Land Bank’s mandate as a government institution is to provide encompassing services and products to all farmers, including emerging farmers, who were traditionally excluded in private sector offerings.

Therefore AgriSeker’s existing crop and upcoming asset insurance UMA will, in addition to its commercial focus, also cater to the needs of emerging farmers.

“AgriSeker is focused on creating sustainable farming and therefore we provide more than just the insurance policy,” says Bertus Krüger, Executive Director of the AgriSeker Group of Companies. “We also give assistance and support in providing information and risk management advice for farmers in conducting their business.”

AgriSeker management

AgriSeker was founded in March with established relationships with farmers by the former senior management of Absa Insurance Company’s Crop Insurance Business Unit, led by Krüger.

Pieter Delport will head the new AgriSeker Bate business, while Krüger will remain at the helm of AgriSeker Group of Companies. Reinhard Kuschke will remain as head of AgriSeker Onderskrywing (Crop).

Krüger and Delport have established backgrounds in both asset and crop insurance and therefore offer well-rounded leadership within the group.

GENRIC will take a strategic stake in AgriSeker Bate.