OUTsurance Group has appointed four independent non-executive directors to the boards of the listed holding company and its 92.8%-held subsidiary, OUTsurance Holdings, with effect from 17 August 2026. Kamo Kroll, Nazia Kahlon, Renasha Werbeloff (Govender) and Magnus Taljaard join under paragraph 6.71 of the JSE Listings Requirements, with the board confirming that fit and proper assessments were satisfactory and that no affirmative disclosures arose from the integrity declarations required under paragraph 6.74.
The appointments are the visible part of a renewal exercise the group flagged to shareholders in November 2025. OUTsurance then told the market that regulatory expectations on board tenure for independent directors would require an orderly sequence of departures and replacements over roughly two years, in order to preserve an independent majority. No tenure reset occurred when Rand Merchant Investment Holdings became OUTsurance Group in December 2022, and service on the RMI and OUTsurance Holdings boards is counted together when independence is assessed. Long-serving directors therefore carry more accumulated tenure than the listed entity’s own history suggests.
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Two departures are already scheduled. Chairman Herman Bosman, appointed to the two boards in 2014 and 2015, and lead independent director Kubandiran Pillay, who joined OUTsurance Holdings in February 2014, will step down at the 2026 annual general meeting. Bosman is classified as non-independent, his chairmanship having been approved by the Prudential Authority, which makes the succession a governance question rather than a formality.
| Appointee | Background | Current roles |
|---|---|---|
| Kamo Kroll | CA(SA); 17 years in financial services, 13 in investment banking; senior leadership at RMB until 2024 | Non-executive director, Servest; formerly Primedia |
| Nazia Kahlon | 15 years across asset management, asset consulting and investment banking; five years in philanthropy | Research Director, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies; director of Huddle Education, Curious Learning, Resolute Robotics |
| Renasha Werbeloff (Govender) | Actuary; 19 years in financial services; former PwC lead actuarial partner on life insurance audits | Engagements across South Africa and other African markets |
| Magnus Taljaard | 30 years at Standard Bank Group, latterly Chief Technology and Operations Officer, Group IT | Technology strategy consultant, Life Healthcare; non-executive director, Standard Bank Angola |
The skills mix is not accidental. Two appointees bring capital markets depth, Kroll from investment banking and Kahlon from asset management and venture capital allocation. Werbeloff arrives with actuarial and audit credentials, including direct engagement with the Prudential Authority on regulatory and actuarial matters. Taljaard brings three decades of banking technology and operations.
Werbeloff’s profile answers the most immediate structural need. The Prudential Authority approves insurers’ directors under the Insurance Act, and actuarial capability paired with audit committee experience is the scarcest skill on an insurance board. Taljaard’s appointment maps onto management’s stated reliance on proprietary systems and artificial intelligence to drive efficiency.
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The changes come while the group runs three businesses at very different stages. For the six months to December 2025, normalised earnings rose 7.7% to R2.32bn, with OUTsurance Holdings up 12.6% to R2.50bn and group normalised return on equity at 32.3%. Short-term gross written premiums reached R20.04bn. The interim dividend rose 36.2% to 120.7c, alongside a special dividend of 30.3c.
Beneath that, the picture is uneven. Youi in Australia grew premiums strongly but absorbed roughly double the prior year’s natural peril losses. OUTsurance Ireland, launched in May 2024, lost R263m and contributed 1.7% of group premiums. Management expects a further €60m to €70m of funding over four years, around R1.1bn to R1.3bn at current rates, and break-even by April 2029.
That is the context in which board composition matters. The group services 3.7 million policies across three jurisdictions and employs more than 8,100 people, with a loss-making European start-up under a separate regulator and an Australian book exposed to climate volatility.
The unresolved item is the chair. With Bosman and Pillay both leaving at the 2026 AGM, the next disclosure shareholders will watch is who takes the chair, and whether that name comes from the four announced or from a further round of appointments.