Khandani Msibi, the CEO of the investment arm of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), has embarked on a new strategy to force the end of the curatorship of 3Sixty Life, the underwriter owned by Numsa Investment Company's Doves Group Holdings (DGH), reports Fin24.

Msibi, who is also acting CEO of DGH, says the Numsa-linked group is advising policyholders of 3Sixty Life, which has been in curatorship for almost two years, to move their business to African Unity Life.

This is another underwriter serving lower-and-middle income earners, and the effect of this would be to drain 3Sixty Life of the revenue that has kept it alive and force it into liquidation.

‘My projection is that we will move all policyholders within the next six months, and all employees at 3Sixty Life will be retrenched,’ Msibi said in a memo sent to all DGH staff on 21 November.

3Sixty Life went into curatorship in late December 2021 after an urgent application by the Prudential Authority (PA), the financial regulator housed inside the Reserve Bank, for failing to maintain adequate capital and liquidity levels as required by law.

Msibi continued to fight the matter in court before eventually agreeing to cease hostilities with the PA in February 2023.

In the meantime, relations between BDO SA and the PA had soured, with the regulator requesting that the High Court appoint a new curator after the exit of controversial provisional curator Yashoda Ram. That saw Fagmeedah Petersen-Cook appointed as the final curator of 3Sixty Life in late February 2023. 

But the drama still hasn't abated despite almost two years having passed since the Numsa-linked underwriter was placed under curatorship.

Letters between the various parties contain a slew of allegations ranging from DGH accusing Peterson-Cook of using 3Sixty Life's curatorship to enrich herself and sabotaging the audit process needed to finalise its outstanding financial statements, reports Fin24.

DGH also accuses the PA of wanting to destroy black insurance companies and has queried why 3Sixty Life has not been placed into liquidation after almost two years in curatorship, if it is indeed an unsound business.

However, Petersen-Cook hit back in at least one letter of her own, in which she accuses DGH of diverting premiums meant for 3Sixty Life to African Unity before an agreement was signed with the new underwriter.

In the same letter, she also accuses DGH of insurance fraud for allegedly submitting death claims on behalf of policyholders whose policies had lapsed and threatened to report the group to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority.

Petersen-Cook said in an emailed response that she had received no ‘formal notification’ from DGH of its intention to move 3Sixty Life's policyholders.

Petersen-Cook also cited regulations, saying that restrictions placed on moving business from one insurer to another were designed to protect policyholders.

Full Fin24 report