Finance News South Africa

Third time the charm

Having clinched a Bronze Arrow in 2014, followed by a silver award the next year, FedGroup walked away with a coveted Golden Arrow in the 2016 PMR. africa (Professional Management Review) awards.
Walter van der Merwe, CEO of FedGroup Life
Walter van der Merwe, CEO of FedGroup Life

Random national survey

“The PMR.africa awards are not a competition companies can enter or apply for. Scores are determined following a voting procedure conducted on local intermediaries, including independent brokers and financial advisors. Because of this impartiality, they are highly sought after in the industry, and we are very honoured to have been recognised with a Golden Arrow this year,” says FedGroup Life’s CEO, Walter van der Merwe.

According to PMR.africa, “The awards are the culmination of a research process whereby companies and institutions are rated based on respondents’ perceptions, with a strong focus on evaluating and measuring customer service and customer satisfaction.”

Steady and sustainable improvement

FedGroup’s steady and sustainable improvement has been as a result of a thorough examination of the feedback received each year.

“Our staff is deeply committed to clients. Due to this, we evaluate both positive and negative feedback. This provides us with an incredibly powerful tool to determine which processes require improvement. The ongoing reviews of the services we provide have allowed us to improve across all areas of our business," says Van der Merwe.

14 criteria

PMR.africa claims the awards represent competitiveness, effectiveness, excellence, leadership, and resilience, and set a benchmark in the industry.

Companies are rated across a range of 14 criteria that include flexibility, innovativeness, quality and competitive pricing of products. While competence, efficiency, and integrity are key in the voting process. FedGroup rated a mean score of 4.00 out of a possible 5.00 in the group life/risk products category.

“FedGroup is an independently run company, which encourages and values independent thinking. Our ethos places our members and their well-being at the centre of all that we do, and certainly ahead of the financial gain of shareholders. It is this ethos that has allowed us to take on the industry giants, and being awarded a Golden Arrow Award this year is testament to the success we have achieved in doing so,” he says.

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