Airtel, S Africa's Sanlam tie up for financial services

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel today said it has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with South African financial services group, Sanlam, for the distribution of insurance and health funding products.

The agreement covers seven African countries, on a non-exclusive basis, in which both companies have a presence -- Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

"This will offer our customers in Africa access to a broad range of products and services to support their lifestyles and aspirations, and this partnership will enable us to significantly enhance the value we offer our loyal customers," Airtel Director and Africa Head (Airtel Money) Chidi Okpala said.

Sanlam provides financial solutions to individual and institutional clients. These solutions include insurance, personal financial services like estate planning, trusts, personal loans, health management, savings as well as business fitness assessment, asset management, stock broking, risk management and capital market activities.

The agreement is aimed at enhancing value for Airtel customers and increasing access to insurance, which will enable Sanlam to market and sell its life, general and health insurance products through Airtel's extensive telecom networks in the seven countries, it said.

Bharti Airtel, which has operations in 17 countries across Africa, offers 2G and 3G mobile services in the region.

Overall, led by the Indian market, Bharti had over 257 million customers across the world at the end of June, 2012.

"We are passionate about supplying sound financial solutions to the wider African market and are delighted by this opportunity to provide our services and solutions through Airtel's network," Margaret Dawes, Executive Director for Africa at Sanlam Emerging Markets said.

Sanlam, a financial services group, was established as a life insurance company in 1918 and listed on the JSE Ltd (primary listing) and Namibian Stock Exchange (secondary listing) in 1998.

Headquartered in South Africa, the Group has offices throughout South Africa and business interests in Africa, Europe, India, the US and Australia.