02 Jul 2015

Bramer Life Botswana has become the first citizen owned life insurance company after their much publicised problems which saw the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) appoint a statutory manager to the company.


Bramer Life Botswana was launched in June 2014 after the Mauritian based British American Investment Corporation (BAIC) invested P40 million for an 80 per cent stake in the company with citizen investors holding the remaining 20 per cent.


Nine months into the market, a scandal dubbed by the Mauritian Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, as an “unprecedented financial scandal,” hit its sister company, Bramer Banking Corporation Limited in Mauritius hence Bramer Life Botswana was affected.


The scandal was said to entail a large-scale scam in the shape of a ponzi scheme that, according to information available to investigators in Mauritius, was estimated at over 25 billion Mauritius rupees (over P6.4 billion).


Following the revelations, NBIFRA appointed Mr Nigel Dixon-Warren of KPMG as a statutory manager in April for Bramer Life Botswana and his role was to replace the board of directors and shareholders of the company to ensure that the interest of policy holders were protected.


Speaking at a press briefing on the progress,  Mr Dixon-Warren said as of June 29 this year, they have a new Bramer Life company that would operate going forward.


“The company has undertaken a change in its shareholding and since the turmoil that ensured with BAIC in Mauritius, we have been in negotiations with the Mauritian company and new investors,” he said.


He said the new shareholders of Bramer Life Botswana were Botswana Opportunity Partnership (BOP) - a partnership between Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) and CMB and Capital Management Botswana (CMB) formerly Botswana Insurance Fund Management (BIFM) a subsidiary of Botswana Insurance Holding Limited (BIHL).


“The new shareholding is such that 82.5 per cent is citizen shareholders and 17.5 per cent is non-citizens,” said Mr Dixon-Warren, adding that this means that BOP has 40 per cent, CMB has 25 per cent, Ms Regina Sikalesele-Vaka has 25 per cent and the staff of Bramer Life Botswana have 10 per cent reserved for them as a staff scheme.


He indicated that the 10 per cent for staff scheme was part of the negotiations and going forward it would be set up for them.


Mr Dixon-Warren said the deal was agreed last week and they were now finalising the administrative processes which would pave the way for his exit as the statutory manager.


“I will soon be writing my final report to NBIFRA and in that report I will be able to tell NBIFRA to review my appointment so that the company can move forward and continue with its business,” he said.


For her part, the chief executive officer of Bramer Life Botswana and shareholder, Ms Regina Sikalesele-Vaka said they were happy with the development and the milestone that Bramer Life Botswana has achieved as the financial services sector in Botswana is huge.


“None of the existing companies have achieved what this newcomer has done so far and we are very proud of that,” she said. Ends