Identified an overall 20% cost reset opportunity for a South African life insurance business

Revenue had remained flat over prior years while costs had escalated by ~10%. Previous expense management and cost strategies only succeeded in keeping cost increases in line with inflation. The business required a comprehensive cost reset to meet business requirements.

We were engaged to assess the overall cost efficiency potential across two divisions of the retail business and identify priority improvement areas.

• Reviewed prior cost initiatives and other cost data to see what had been tried previously
• Developed a transparent view of the size and structure of the cost base across the retail life insurance business
• Conducted benchmarking of the cost base in the in‑scope business functions to identify “cost‑overweight” areas using our proprietary database of input and output insurance cost KPIs
• Identified the cost drivers and size of the cost reset opportunity in “cost‑overweight” business areas
• Conducted deep dives into operations and finance functions which represented 25% of costs and 45% of headcount
• Built alignment on the cost opportunity in deep dive areas
• Developed a high‑level execution roadmap to prepare the organisation for delivery