Absa says it is expecting the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections to emerge as soon as next month. New daily Covid-19 infections in SA are currently below 1 000 a day, and there have been no new deaths recorded in the official tally in the past two days.
"We do anticipate a fifth wave. We think it will start as early as late next month," said Absa interim CEO Jason Quinn.
The bank said Covid-19 claims in the fourth wave were better than its insurance business expected. So, it might be the case that the fifth wave could also be less severe than the third wave, which hit SA life insurers hard.In the first half of 2021, Absa increased its Covid-19 provisions to R846 million, with most of that – R836 million – set aside for the South African operations. The bank used R701 million to cover claims in the third and fourth waves.
But he said Absa's actuaries have provided for a number of other possible waves still in the insurance business.
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