The Monocle Banking Podcast

South Africa’s risk landscape has changed - but has insurance kept pace?

Michael Avery spoke to Cedric Masondo, CEO of PSG Insure, about the mounting pressures on South Africa’s insurance sector, from increasingly severe weather events to deteriorating municipal infrastructure. They unpacked how insurers are adapting the way they assess and price risk, the growing protection gap, and emerging threats such as AI-driven fraud.

South Africa's venture capital ecosystem has quietly come of age. The question is: who's paying attention? Michael Avery was joined by Alison Collier, MD of Endeavor South Africa; Antonia Bothner, Capital Markets Lead at Endeavor South Africa; Lumka Mlambo, Fund Principal at the SA SME Fund; and Anusha Naidu, CEO of SAVCA, to explore why South Africa's venture capital market is gaining global credibility. The conversation unpacked the country's growing track record of successful exits, the unique market conditions driving innovation, and why local startups are increasingly attracting international acquirers.

Can finance help solve South Africa's housing crisis? Michael Avery was joined by Alessandro Scalco, Sustainable Finance Transactor at RMB, to explore how innovative funding models are unlocking affordable rental housing while expanding access to finance for underserved property entrepreneurs.

The conversation unpacked RMB's partnership with property fintech Indlu, the power of blended finance and data-driven lending, and why sustainable finance is creating new opportunities for both investors and communities.

Johannesburg is at a crossroads - and its future could shape South Africa's economic outlook. Michael Avery was joined by Roy Havemann, who heads the Impumelelo Economic Growth Lab at the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch University, and Nomvuyo Guma, author of the Lab's latest urban-risk briefing on Johannesburg, to unpack the city's growing challenges.

The conversation explored the impact of deteriorating infrastructure, financial pressure and political instability, why Johannesburg remains too important to fail, and what it will take to restore confidence and drive long-term growth.

To examine one of South Africa's most contentious economic policy debates - the effectiveness of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) - Michael Avery is joined by Dr. Daan Steenkamp, CEO of Codera Analytics, and Donald Mackay, Director at XA Global Trade Advisors.

Drawing on new research into the costs and outcomes of B-BBEE compliance, the discussion explores whether the policy is achieving its intended objectives of transformation or creating unintended consequences for investment, employment and economic growth. They unpack the distinction between transformation as a national imperative and B-BBEE as a policy tool, while considering what the data reveals about South Africa's current approach and the need for evidence-based policy reform.