Welcome to Mind Matters week of 1 August 2022

The Winter Programme Highlights -  Day 2

Building interpersonal skills in the workplace; understanding diversity and inclusion - Nene Molefi

This is a brilliant presentation by Nene Molefi, it demonstrates how pervasive our lack of understanding of diversity, equality and inclusion is and yet how powerful it can be for our personal growth and that of our team if we "interrupt it"!

You can access the presentation by clicking on the title and you can access the recording here. It starts at 00:02:51 and ends at 00:57:27

This presentation fits very nicely into our usual About You category as it is about personal development. 

Being part of building a community 

Setlogane Manchidi, head of CSI at Investec gives an impassioned speech on how being immersed in a community such as the actuarial profession allows for immense growth and opportunity for yourself, others and broader society. He makes an appeal to you as an elite group of people to lead with integrity, purpose and honesty.  Being on the fringes of a community is not enough to make a difference - even in your own life. You can choose to leave a legacy by being immersed in a community or you can choose your own legacy which you will take with you when you leave the world. The choice is yours. 

To watch and listen click on the title above and go to 00:57:57 it stops at 01:35:10

AI in Actuarial Science

In this brilliant presentation Ron Richman gives us more than a glimpse of how AI works and where it can work in Actuarial Science. Ron is at the forefront in the sphere of AI and this presentation culminated in an award winning research paper.  

His goals in this talk are to answer the question 1) what machine learning implies for actuarial science, 2) understand the problems solved by deep learning, 3) discuss the tools of the trade, 4) discuss recent successes of deep learning in actuarial science and 5) discuss emegring challenges and solutions.

Watch the presentation by clicking on the title or else listen to the recording here. Start 01:35:10 – 02:25:16

Ron is quite open to you communicating with him on these topics and you can send him an email (ronaldrichman@gmail.com) or on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Building capacity for South Africa and Africa

In this easy going conversation between Lusani Mulaudzi, Public Interest Actuary, past ASSA President, and lecturer, Fred Swaniker reveals his vision for building human potential in Africa to match the demands of the 4IR.  Fred is the founder of African Leadership Academy and the African Leadership Network, amongst a host of other organisations and schools in Africa.  Fred Swaniker tells us about the power of effective networking and the manifestation of his work to produce software engineers for the world through institutions he has founded. Note the four steps of networking that Fred speaks about in making the most of the people you meet. 

An illuminating and inspiring conversation which you can watch by clicking on the title above or listen to it here. Start at 02:29:51 and end at 03:22:45

Global and local economic perspectives 

What a new world order might mean for the global economy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has opened fault lines between nations which will affect trade relations and investment for years to come.

The war in Ukraine is already having a significant effect on inflation and activity in the world economy as commodity prices have soared and supply chains have been disrupted. Inflation in the G7 was running at more than 7% in April, its highest for 40 years, and will reach double digits in some countries such as the UK later this year.

The conflict also marks a watershed moment as it challenges established assumptions about the balance of geopolitical power in the world economy. This has implications for future alliances, trade and investment.

A very well written and sensible article by Keith Wade, Chief economist at Schroders which I encourage you to read. Four graphs which support interpretation of data gathered over the period.  6 min read.  

Telkom chairman cautions of potential civil unrest in SA

Telkom chairperson Sello Moloko.

Telkom chairperson Sello Moloko is warning of rising anger and lawlessness across the country, as a result of increasing poverty levels, unless urgent interventions are implemented.

Moloko says even though the local economy recovered by 4.9%, it is still 1.7% smaller than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country is being weighed down by rising unemployment, weak consumer spending and socio-political instability.

2 min 30 sec read, but note the link to Telkom's Integrated Report 2022. 

Industry news

Insurer placed into provisional curatorship, JSE-listed owner crashes 40%

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has placed Constantia Insurance Company (CICL) into provisional curatorship after it failed to find an investor to inject it with much-needed capital of at least R450 million. 

The Sandton-headquartered group has also been temporarily barred from taking on new customers.

Founded in 1952, Constantia is a non-life insurance company that falls under Constantia Risk and Insurance Holdings, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Conduit Capital. Conduit's share price fell by 42% to a low of 20 cents on Monday morning. 

Follow this news thread in the coming weeks, what does this mean for the Industry? CICL is not the first since 2020 to be placed into provisional curatorship. 2 min 30 sec read

Below is a .pdf explaining what provisional curatorship means within a FAQ document provided to the CICL community on 1 August 2022. 

U.S. Crypto Company Nomad Hit by $190 Million Theft

U.S. crypto firm Nomad has been hit by a $190 million theft, blockchain researchers said on Tuesday, the latest such heist to hit the digital asset sector this year.

And so it seems that blockchain is not safe from being hacked! 2 min read.

Climate change and the industry 

Natural Disasters Cost Insurers $39B During H1 2022, 18% More Than Average: Aon

Insured losses from global natural disaster events were estimated at $39 billion during the first half of 2022, 18% higher than the 21st century average of $33 billion, driven by persistent severe convective storm (SCS) events, according to Aon in its latest catastrophe report.

2 min 30 sec read 

Floods, Storms Drive Global Insured Catastrophe Losses of US$38B in H1 2022: Swiss Re

A series of winter storms in Europe, record floods in Australia and South Africa as well as a high number of thunderstorms in the U.S. and Europe resulted in US$35 billion of insured losses from natural catastrophes in the first half of 2022, according to Swiss Re Institute’s preliminary estimates.

Read this article and find out what a secondary peril is. 2 mon 30 sec read

Global warming warnings: insurers must heed the KZN floods

The extensive flooding and landslides experienced on stretches of the KwaZulu-Natal coastline on 11 and 12 April should serve as a warning to the general population, and more pertinently, to South Africa’s non-life insurers and reinsurers that the country is no longer insulated from extreme weather catastrophes. In fact, all stakeholders in the insurance value chain should brace for an increase in the frequency and severity of natural catastrophe events that climate change experts have been warning of for decades.

Good article covering wide range of impact. 3 min 30 sec read.

Climate Change Made Deadly UK Heat Wave at Least 10 Times More Likely: Study

World Weather Attribution, the research team that conducted the study, looked at the weather in the southern half of the country on July 18-19, analyzing both peak temperatures and two-day averages. The analysis, released Thursday, found greenhouse gas pollution made the heat wave at least 10 times likelier and 4° Celsius (7.2° Fahrenheit) hotter than it would have been.

3 min read

The Global Urgency of Building the Carbon Removal Industry

Climate scientists agree that efforts to cut carbon emissions alone won’t get the world to net-zero targets in the middle of this century. The world will also need carbon removal, they say. Here, CM International Editor Lisa Howard gives a primer on some methods of carbon removal and describes early actions by Swiss Re and Zurich to prefund projects in a fledgling industry.

Good read to fill you in on the full picture of CO2. Find out what carbon removal certification is. 7 min read. 

Issues of equity in women's month 

Tech Giants Brace for Legal Mess of Abortion Data Subpoenas

Technology giants including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google, facing questions about whether they’d hand over users’ personal data to authorities pursuing evidence on abortion seekers, are bracing for the multi-state legal quagmire that will govern privacy in a post-Roe world.

From map searches to private messages, a trove of information stored in the companies’ data centers could be used as a digital trail of breadcrumbs linking a patient to the termination of a pregnancy, a procedure being restricted in multiple US states, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The largest tech companies, which have in the past mounted high-profile legal opposition to law enforcement data requests, have been largely silent about what they’ll do in these cases.

This article from Insurance Journal raises questions of personal and privacy rights among others.  It is based on the recent overturn of legal abortion in the USA, a law which came into being in 1972 and which was overturned by the famous Roe vs Wade case earlier this year. 5 min read 

The gender pay gap contributes to underinsurance in women

More than a third of women (35%) cite income as their greatest asset (versus 22% of men), yet only 16% have income protection compared to 20% of men.

This comes from Sanlam Individual Life’s recent survey of over 900 South Africans, which highlighted the insurance gap between the genders. Women earn up to 35% less than men for work of equal value, impacting their ability to guard against life’s curveballs.

A must read to give you the stats and motivate for change! 3 min 30 sec read. 

One-Quarter of Firms Operating at Lloyd’s Reach 35% Target for Women Leaders

A quarter of firms operating at Lloyd’s of London have reached the commercial insurance market’s target for 35% of leaders to be women, though progress on diversity was “incremental,” Lloyd’s said in a report on Monday.

Lloyd’s has been trying to improve diversity in the market, which employs around 45,000 people in insurance and broking firms based in the City of London financial district.

Let's keep improving the targets! 2 min read with links to other reports in the article. 

A Woman Belongs in Actuarial Science: Lubalethu Dube

Our financial industries are still very male and very white centric in posturing and languaging. The odds of finding people who look and have lived like me are few, let alone women who also speak my language. As I was thinking of July being National Savings month I realised that my relationship with money stems from my relationship issues with maths! One of my highschool maths teachers was… I’ll call him Mr Blue. One day during maths class Mr Blue felt the need to express his utter annoyance with what I can only assume he thought to be a stupid question that I had asked by banging his head against the board in a slow and painful death kind of way – much to the delight of some of my peers and the shock of others. Needless to say, from that day my fourteen year old self’s desire to understand and do well at maths were buried. 

Sadly, a lot of women of colour have been discouraged from fully exploring their relationship with maths by their own Mr Blue encounters. 

Thankfully our guest Lubalethu Dube, a two time UCT Actuarial Science graduate’s relationship with maths does not involve a Mr Blue archetype but what she clearly understands is the unfortunate frustration at the lack of representation and understanding why there is none. So in between work, studying for 10 out of the 12 required Technical Exams and living life Lubalethu also avails herself through her social media platforms. Before I giveaway our entire interview, here’s how it went down: 

Head on to the interview, this you will enjoy and relate to!  6 min read

New equity rules are as skilful as a sledgehammer

If the Employment Equity Amendment Bill becomes law, it is likely to lead to a great deal of litigation

James Horn and Rod HarperPicture: 123RF/pitinanThe Employment Equity Amendment Bill was passed by parliament on May 17 and now awaits the assent of the president. The bill embodies some positive developments in the implementation of affirmative action in SA, including the introduction of flexibility and exceptions for smaller employers and the strengthening of employment equity goals for larger employers.

This head topic is expanded on the Business Day but you may need a subscription for that. 1 min read

ESG investing 

Billions pulled from Europe’s controversial ESG investing fund category

When an asset manager sells a fund as Article 8, they’re promising clients that their money will go toward “promoting” sustainability. It’s a concept that was enshrined in the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which started being enforced in March 2021 as the world’s boldest anti-greenwash rulebook to date. But 16 months on, there’s hardly any agreement within the fund industry as to what “promoting” sustainability means. What’s more, even regulators in the EU don’t really see eye to eye.

This article shows up the difficulty in measuring how sustainable financial products are but also that there are entities working on a taxonomy that can be followed. 3 min 30 sec read

Demystifying sustainable investing

Do you know the difference between ESG, sustainable and impact investing? Experts unpack the full spectrum of responsible investment options in this new Investec podcast.

A 30 min podcast but a precis (shortened version) of the podcast is available on the same site. 

In 1997, Arie de Geus, a European management writer, argued that companies die because their managers focus on producing goods and services and forget that their organisation’s true nature is that of a community of people.

That ‘community’ includes not just employees, but customers, investors, regulators and the general public. Never has it been more important to remember them.

The people who make or break businesses are rapidly waking up to the consequences of irresponsible practices in industry, namely social injustice and the destabilisation of our planet. Both cause suffering to humans and other sentient beings.

A very good read of 3 mins. 

South African investors more empowered to prioritise their values and principles

Schroders Global Investor Study 2022

Discourse around issues such as climate change and social justice is driving fundamental change in the investment landscape both locally and abroad. New research shows that in South Africa, investors are focused on allocating to funds that meet their personal needs and principles. For these investors, engaging with the companies they invest in on issues around sustainability – as an environmental and social imperative – is of critical importance.

This was one of the key findings of Schroder’s flagship 2022 Global Investor Study (GIS), which surveyed over 23,000 investors from 33 locations globally, including South Africa.

Kondi Nkosi, country head at Schroders in South Africa gives commentary in this write up. 3 min 30 sec read

About you

Last week we focused on generous listening and this week I would like you to meet Nancy Kline author and exponent of Time to Think.  This week I encourage you to spend time on the website exploring the ten behaviours that generate "the finest independent thinking"

"The most valuable thing we can offer each other is the framework in which to think for ourselves"  Nancy Kline