Author: Gareth Stokes
Gareth Stokes is an award-winning financial journalist with more than two decades’ experience writing in the financial advice, insurance and investment disciplines.
Common sense and social consequence should be part of the net-zero debate
If you spend enough time on YouTube and other social media platforms, and you are prepared to entertain content that does not conform to the mainstrea [...]
Like it or not, hard reinsurance markets are part of the re/insurer sustainability paradigm
Any self-respecting insurance or reinsurance expert can rattle off a long risk of reasons for hard or hardening reinsurance markets. They fail to ment [...]
Africa Inc builds trust, creates value on the back of ESG
Businesses across Africa, including the insurance sector, are leveraging their environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies to build trust an [...]
Consumers will judge insurers’ sustainability credentials
Firms in the insurance industry are increasingly being judged by consumers – and society – for their achievements or shortcomings in non-insurance are [...]
Climate change is redefining global risk frontiers
Climate change, geopolitics and pandemic are shifting the risk frontier that multinational firms must negotiate to meet the health and “safety and sec [...]
Budgets, energy woes and how (alleged) corruption threatens SA’s just transition
The 2023 National Budget speech delivered by South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, placed a high priority on addressing the country’s [...]
Taking climate-related catastrophe in its stride: SA leading general insurer posts profit despite tough underwriting environment
South Africa’s leading general insurer, Santam Limited, reported strong growth in gross written premiums (GWP) and an “acceptable net profit” for its [...]
How insurtech is driving social impact in Africa
One of South Africa’s up-and-coming, consumer-focused insurtech companies made headlines recently with the announcement that it had secured US$17m in [...]
Asset owners must adopt alternative mindsets to accelerate impact and sustainability
Asset owners and other allocators of capital (who include asset managers, insurers and retirement funds) must adopt alternative mindsets when making i [...]
Green vs coal, gas and oil: SA’s loadshedding woes prove that sustainable energy is not a zero-sum game
Climate change activists who insist that renewable solar and wind power can fulfil a country’s base load requirements should spend a few days conducti [...]