AVBOB Integrated Annual Report 2018

internally and externally. The Society has established and maintains open lines of communication with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the Ombudsman and the Association for Savings and Investment in South Africa (ASISA). The market landscape is changing on a continuous basis and therefore remaining abreast of market needs as well as our policyholder needs is central to maintaining our relevance as a brand. For this reason, we conduct various research studies amongst policyholders, competitor brand policyholders and non-policyholders. This research has confirmed that the Group is making positive progress in realising the attainment of its identified objectives. Independent Research studies conducted by Ask Afrika Research Company have confirmed that both the AVBOB Insurance and Funeral Service brands have high brand recognition and liking across the various LSM groups of South Africa For the third year running, AVBOB was voted the winner of the Financial: Funeral Cover Category Award in the 2018 Icon Brands Survey and was the winner in the Funeral Insurance Category in the 2018 Kasi Brands Survey. AVBOB also achieved Top Employers South African certification from the global Top Employer Institute. These awards testify to AVBOB’s ongoing drive towards transformation and excellence in products and service. AVBOB has also done extremely well in the Sunday Times Top Brands 2017 Survey having ranked within the Top 3 of the Business to Consumer Category for Long-term Insurance. During the year under review no material issues were raised by any stakeholder. Business ethics and organisational integrity The success of a business is built on the trust of customers, employees and the general public. The best way to gain trust is to demonstrate ethics and integrity in business, not only because of legal requirements, but because it is the right thing to do. Through its statement of intent on ethics, code of ethics and core values, the Group strives to create a business environment free from unlawful and unethical business practices. Business is therefore conducted with the utmost integrity towards all stakeholders and competitors. By adhering to contractual obligations and operating instructions, and by educating employees and representatives, we strive to ensure, in particular, that our products and services are presented in an accurate and transparent manner. Processes are in place to assess the integrity of prospective new employees and induction training is provided to new intermediaries regarding ethical behaviour. No employee may offer or receive any gift, favour or benefit, that may be regarded as an attempt to exert influence on any party. A policy to provide for the official declaration of gifts is in place. Fraud and any breaches of ethical behaviour are dealt with as soon as identified. A whistle-blowing facility for reporting of unethical conduct, fraud, etc. is available for employees and the public at large. The whistle-blowing hotline both allows individuals to make anonymous reports and guarantees protection of their identity, in accordance with the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act of 2000. All serious breaches of the code are communicated to the Audit-Risk Committee, Social and Ethics Committee and the Board. For further detail on the role of the Audit-Risk and Social and Ethics Committees, please refer to the Corporate Governance Report. Employees The Group’s values are woven into every aspect of the business and the employees are pioneers 42