AVBOB Integrated Annual Report 2018

“It has been a great privilege to celebrate our centenary milestone and ongoing success of the Group during this year” Frik Rademan Chief Executive Officer Overview On 15August 2018, the Group reached a historic milestone when we celebrated the establishment of our organisation a 100 years ago. Various initiatives to celebrate this milestone were launched over the year leading up to this event, that culminated in a prestigious gala dinner and the announcement of the fifth special bonus. In collaboration with the Department of Basic Education we announced that we would donate R150 million towards the renovation and refurbishment of schools across the country. In July 2017 the Group also launched a nationwide online poetry project in all 11 official languages to bring our brand promise ‟We’re here for you” to life. A 100-poem print anthology, titled ‟I wish I’d said…”, was created from the entries received together with specially commissioned poems from South Africa’s top poets. The 100th poem, fittingly was delivered in a dialect of the Khoisan language with only a few surviving speakers. It has been a great privilege to celebrate our centenary milestone and ongoing success of the Group during this year. The Group has once again achieved excellent results fuelled by the improved performance of the financial markets during the year. Our mutual status continues to set us apart and enables us to create policyholder value. The Group’s profit before transfer to policyholder liabilities increased from R1,1 billion to R2,2 billion for the year. Most of this profit was utilised to improve policyholder benefits, increasing the surplus allocated for the improvement of policyholder benefits over the last eleven years to R10 billion. These allocations include special bonuses, free funeral benefits and benefit improvements. To celebrate the Society’s centenary, the largest bonus declaration to date, that introduces an AVBOB Reward Account (ARA), was declared on 15 August 2018. Members as at 30 June 2018 receive an ARA, which can be paid to members on the policy anniversary after they reach the age of 65, subject to the policy being in force for at least ten years or on death, if earlier. 19