Momentum eyes Discovery’s medical-insurance crown

Momentum Group is putting Discovery firmly in its sights as the company looks to become South Africa’s biggest health insurer.

“We are on their heels now,” Momentum Chief Executive Officer Jeanette Marais said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Momentum wants to build off the impetus it got after winning the tender to administer the Bonitas Medical Fund, one of South Africa’s prominent medical-plan providers, last month. The transfer, effective June 1, will increase Momentum’s market share to 30% from 22% in one swoop, lifting it to the No. 2 position in health-insurance rankings, just 4 percentage points away from market leader Discovery.

“Between Discovery, ourselves and Medscheme, we actually administer 90% of this medical-scheme underwriting market or administration market in South Africa, so it is quite concentrated,” Marais said. “But for us, to jump by 8% market share with one deal is a very big deal.”

The deal is the biggest local transfer of a medical scheme yet, bringing more than 750 000 beneficiaries under Momentum’s administration and taking the number of its health clients in Africa to over 3.3 million and worldwide to more than 25 million.

“The deal has shown the market that we are an administrator of choice,” she said, citing the extension of the contract with the government-employee medical plan for another five years. “That gives us quite a lot of confidence.”

Meanwhile, the insurer is also scaling up its Indian venture with billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla as it seeks to diversify away from South Africa, which generated 90% of earnings.

In the six months to December, the insurer added R109 million ($6.5 million) into the Aditya Birla Health Insurance, in which it holds a 44% stake, and plans to add more over the next three years.

The strategic partnership, operating since 2016, focuses on providing health insurance, wellness solutions, and chronic care to more than 22 million people in India.

“We estimate that by the time this business is fully profitable, it will be around R4 billion of investment, which has been done over a 10-year period,” Marais said. “There’s probably another 350 million to 400 million of investments that we will still need to make over the next two to three years.”

Financial firms from across the world are rushing to boost their business in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Momentum’s homegrown rival, Sanlam, is also expanding in the South Asian nation, which is forecast to expand 6.4% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. That compares with an estimate for 1.4% growth in South Africa.

“If India, at some point, could be 10% of earnings, I think then we will be making progress in terms of just a little bit of diversification,” Marais said.

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