CEO
TAU Underwriting Managers (Pty) Ltd
Total years of experience :31 years, 10 Months
• As CEO I am responsible for the complete end-to-end running of the Underwriting Manager, including setting vision, strategic direction and all general operations
• TAU Underwriting Managers was responsible for the run-off of Lion of Africa Insurance Company, as this has been outsourced by Lion to TAU.
• TAU Underwriting Managers is in the process of writing Public Sector business in partnership with an Insurance company.
• As CEO I am responsible for the complete end-to-end running of the Short-Term Insurance Company, including setting vision, strategic direction and all general operations
• General operations include financial, actuarial, investments, sales, technical underwriting (reinsurance), risk and compliance, human resources, policy administration, claims management, office administration, business support (IT, projects and processes) and procurement.
• Since the company was in “run-off”, I was responsible for running off all active policies, closing all active claims files, recoveries of outstanding debtors and reinsurance and motivating staff during this time.
• As CFO I was responsible for all Financial, Actuarial, Risk, Compliance and Legal functions of the Short-Term Insurance Company, including being part of Executive Management responsible for setting vision and strategic direction.
Achievements
• As CFO, I gained credibility with the Regulator and Reinsurance market for the company, due to my track record in the industry.
• As Managing Director, I was responsible for the complete end-to-end running of the Short-Term Insurance Company, including setting vision, strategic direction and all general operations.
• General operations include financial, technical underwriting, risk and compliance, policy administration, claims management, office administration, business support (IT, projects and processes) and procurement.
Achievements
• As MD, I started an organisational development journey to transform company culture, whilst transforming the company from an operational one to a strategic one
• I successfully built a high performance, multi-cultural Manco team and transformed the company from a niche insurer to a multi-line insurer
• Implemented a new IT system
• Transformed the company from a virtual one to a fully-fledged short-term insurance company
• As CFO, I was responsible for the overall financial function, including all financial reporting, taxation, budgeting, forecasting, transfer pricing and consolidation for Bancassurance and Wealth, which is a division that includes the following businesses:
o Nedgroup Insurance Company (Short Term Insurance) based in Johannesburg (RSA)
o Nedlife (Long Term Insurance) based in Durban (RSA)
o NGIB (Short Term Brokerage) Based in Johannesburg (RSA)
o Nedgroup Investments (Unit Trust Investments) based in Cape Town (RSA)
o Nedgroup Investments International (International Unit Trusts) based in Isle of Man (UK)
o Nedbank Financial Planning (Financial Planning). Head Office based in Johannesburg (RSA)
o Fairbairn Private Bank (Private Bank) based in Isle of Man and Jersey (UK)
o Fairbairn Trust Company (International Trust Company) based in Guernsey (UK)
o BoE Private Bank (Private Bank) based in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town (RSA) - including Private Bank, Fiduciary, Investments and Stock Broking
• My duties included international travel to the Channel Islands in the UK.
• My role entailed the responsibility for the overall financial function including all financial reporting (including the requirements of a JSE listed entity), taxation, budgeting, forecasting and consolidation of all companies within the group, whilst reporting to the international parent company based in Switzerland.
• I was responsible for the investment function, property companies and reinsurance management.
• My duties included reporting to the main board of Directors in South Africa, serving as Director on subsidiary company boards which included the Zimbabwean and Botswana subsidiary companies.
• I was accountable for the overall functions of E-Scape (Pty) Ltd as senior executive management and jointly responsible for the strategic direction of the group.
• I was involved with the international leadership team and international CFO forums, where my duties included international travel to the Head Office in Switzerland and subsidiary companies in southern Africa.
Achievements
• Restructure of the Finance Area
• Implementation of SAP General Ledger
• Investigation into many strategies introduced by me
• As General Manager, I was responsible for the overall financial function including all financial reporting, taxation, budgeting, forecasting of the company, whilst reporting to parent company.
• I was responsible for the investment function, warranty portfolio and reinsurance management, which required international travel to the UK.
• My duties included reporting to the board of directors.
• As senior executive management, I was jointly responsible for the strategic direction of the company.
Achievements
• Gaining the acceptance of the Finance staff and team as a leader
• Setting Up Absa Risk Management Services Limited as a Cell Captive Company and getting regulatory approval
• Playing a significant role in the product expansion that the company went through in that period
• I was responsible for the financial reporting function for the Head Office of Africa, which included the preparation of annual financial statements, consolidation of all subsidiary companies in Africa, preparation and submission of all statutory reports for all subsidiaries in Africa, and the reporting to the parent company based in Germany.
• I was responsible for the taxation function for Head Office in Africa, investments functions, budgeting functions, credit control functions and strategy functions.
Achievements
• Part of the FlexRem Project team that successfully change the Remuneration policy of the company
• Was one of the first in South Africa to covert local financial statements to IAS reporting and align with the International Group
• Played a significant role in setting up Munich Mauritius in a “tax haven” environment with US Dollar Bank Accounts
• Detailed knowledge gained on Tax Transfer Pricing rules and practices
• I served my Articles from 1992 to 1995 and was exposed to financial reporting, auditing, taxation, the preparation of working papers, leading audit teams and managing individual audit assignments.
• As Audit Manager from 1996 to 1997, I was responsible for managing the audit programme for the partner, planning audits, managing audits, reviewing working paper files, whilst liaising and consulting with clients.
Professional Qualification
Post Graduate CTA required to write CA(SA) Board Exams
Honours BCompt
Undergraduate Degree
Schooling