Sanlam Group appoints Ian Kirk

Cape Town - Sanlam Limited is pleased to announce that the Group has appointed Mr Ian Kirk as its Deputy Group Chief Executive with effect from 1 January 2015. Kirk is currently the Chief Executive of Santam. Sanlam has a 60% shareholding in Santam. Kirk, in his capacity as Santam’s CE, is part of the Group Executive Committee of Sanlam. The process to appoint a new Chief Executive for Santam will commence shortly.

As the Deputy Group CE of Sanlam, Kirk will be responsible for the Group operations and will report to the Sanlam Group Chief Executive, Dr Johan van Zyl.

The position of Deputy Group CE is part of Sanlam's succession planning strategy and implementation of a smooth leadership transition. The Sanlam Board intends to appoint Kirk as the Group CE when Van Zyl retires at the end of 2015.

Congratulating Kirk, Van Zyl said:"We believe Ian has the requisite leadership qualities and the vision to support the Group's continued growth and transformation. We are confident that he is suitable for this new position and to take Sanlam's business forward."

"Over the past 10 years or so we have accelerated Sanlam's growth into a global, diversified financial services group and as we progress we need to continue strengthening the business and our leadership structure to sustain our growth and the value for shareholders."

Kirk, 56, joined the Sanlam Group in May 2006 as Chief Executive: Strategy and Projects. He has been at the helm of Santam since June 2007 when he was appointed Chief Executive. Under his leadership, Santam has been a leader of the short-term insurance industry and has seen profitable growth in South Africa and more recently has expanded its footprint in the rest of Africa, India and South East Asia.

Kirk is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and also holds a H. Dip in Business Data Processing from WITS as well as a Certified Information System Audit qualification he brings vast expertise from his years of experience and leadership in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Sanlam, he was the Deputy CEO of the Liberty Group. After completing his studies, Kirk was appointed to the PriceWaterhouse partnership in 1986 and took overall responsibility for the computer audit function in the firm. In 1989 he founded an insurance industry practice before joining AGA Holdings as Managing Director in 1996. That same year AGA Holdings was restructured as Capital Alliance Holdings Limited, one of the first broad-based black empowerment financial services companies in South Africa.

"I am humbled by the confidence that the Sanlam Group has shown in me and I look forward to the new challenge and to making a contribution to the Group's sustained and future growth"