About us

For 125 years we’ve helped South Africans reach their financial goals with practical solutions and solid financial advice. And we’re just getting started.
For 125 years we’ve helped South Africans reach their financial goals with practical solutions and solid financial advice. And we’re just getting started.
For 125 years we’ve helped South Africans reach their financial goals with practical solutions and solid financial advice. And we’re just getting started.
You might know us as part of Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited, a licensed life insurer and an authorised financial services (FSP44673) and registered credit provider (NCRCP173).
We were established in 1897 in Paarl in the Western Cape as African Homes Trust – a syndicate formed to provide finance to those who could not afford to buy their own homes. And while our name has changed and we’ve grown organically and through mergers, our mission remains the same – to help South Africans reach their financial goals, in good times and bad.
We might be one of the biggest financial services companies in South Africa, but we will always put our clients first and treat them with respect. And we are proud to have remained at the top of the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for a number of consecutive years.
We believe that financial literacy paired with expert advice enables you to make good decisions about your money. To help you achieve this, we have over 140 branches throughout South Africa as well as centres of service in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Lesotho and eSwatini.
Governance
Momentum and Metropolitan merged in December 2010 to form Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited. The merger has positioned Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited as the third largest life insurer in South Africa.
From our Board of Directors to Executive Committee, the Momentum Metropolitan leadership is made up of a diverse group of people who bring a variety of skills and experience to board deliberations, as well as a commitment to the highest standard of corporate governance.
At Metropolitan, our strategy is strongly anchored in our purpose – to help our clients achieve their financial life goals and to create value for all our stakeholders. Our aspirant, long-term ambition is to have a product in every emerging market household, double our gross new business issued, and achieve a new business margin of 5%.
The success of our Reset and Grow strategy was instrumental in shifting the dial towards realising our purpose and has laid a firm foundation to launch the current strategy, Reinvent and Grow, which will help us deliver our emerging market growth expectations through the implementation of a two-pronged distribution-centric strategy.
Peter Tshiguvho: Chief Executive Officer
Peter has led Metropolitan, one of the largest financial services institutions in South Africa, as CEO since 2018. Under his leadership, the business is well on its way to fulfil its long-term ambition of becoming a household name with a product in every emerging market home.
Bringing with him many years of valuable experience from tenures at African Life, Ithala Development Corporation, Avbob Life, Absa and Old Mutual, Peter joined Metropolitan as Head of Distribution Channel in 2017. He held this position for one year before being promoted to CEO.
Responsible for leading the strategic direction and fiscal growth of the business, Peter owes his success to inclusive leadership. He believes in surrounding himself with talented people who live up to the promises we make to our clients while adding value to the collective. The business motto of Together We Can is close to his heart and is evident in the successes he has led at Metropolitan.
Thabo Moloi: Executive Head of Service and Operations
Thabo's relationship with Metropolitan started in 1989 when the business helped him pay for his studies. He then joined Metropolitan's Johannesburg Customer Services Office as a service consultant in 1993. With a passion and commitment to helping South Africans achieve their financial life goals, Thabo quickly climbed the ranks and held various senior administrative and management positions, before being recruited to help establish the Johannesburg Contact Centre as Operations Manager in 2001.
Throughout his career, he has held several senior management positions at our sister company Momentum, as well as at Sanlam Personal Finance (SPF). In 2019 he returned to Metropolitan as Executive Head of Service and Operations.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business Administration, cum laude. Thabo has completed an Advanced Leadership Certificate in Design Thinking and a Senior Leadership Programme from UCT's GSB.
Growth, awareness, and truth on a personal and professional level are key motivators to the success he has enjoyed. When he isn't leading his team to deliver exceptional client service, Thabo spends his time mastering the skill of meditation, reading or listening to audiobooks and podcasts, watching sports, and enjoying time with his family.
Etienne le Roux: Chief Financial Officer
One of Etienne’s greatest passions in life is developing people to reach success and he believes that Metropolitan exists to enable this. In his role as Chief Financial Officer, he ensures that his team adds value to employees and shareholders, whilst ensuring value for money to our clients.
Etienne is an Actuarial Science Honour’s graduate from the University of Stellenbosch. After completing his studies, he joined Metropolitan as part of the Business Intelligence and Actuarial Synthesis division. He has since qualified as an Actuary, and is an Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
Driven by an obsession for solving problems and simplifying complex matters, a highlight of his career is being able to simplify financial levers of success to incorporate in daily activities and creating business insights that have a positive impact on the business performance.
Looking to the future, Etienne would like to see a continuous improvement in Metropolitan’s financial results, together with strong new business growth. “There are several positive trends emerging at the moment - we need to keep building on them,” he says.
Japie Mostert: Executive Head of Sales and Distribution
Japie has risen through the ranks at Metropolitan thanks to his exceptional leadership capabilities, operational, strategic, and tactical skills as well as emotional intelligence, all of which have enabled him to balance client centricity with shareholder and employee value.
As Executive Head of Channel, he manages the distribution and sales force with a goal to empower the 4 000 plus members of his division to be profitable and perform at a high, sustainable level, whilst having a meaningful impact on the business.
Japie shares that he relishes working at Metropolitan due to it affording him structure and processes, together with the freedom to make decisions and pursue business opportunities which appeals to his entrepreneurial spirit. He is driven by being part of a team that is committed to making Metropolitan great.
With his passion for developing people, it is understandable that he counts witnessing those he has nurtured becoming successful among the many highlights of his career. “It is amazing to see people who were appointed in junior positions now coming up through the ranks. I am inspired daily by their dedication and focus.”
Lyn Muzondo: Executive Head of Human Capital
As Executive Head of Human Capital at Metropolitan, Lyn has turned her passion for people and leadership development into a career she adores.
Lyn holds a Master's degree in Philosophy from the University of Stellenbosch; and a Master’s degree in Organisational Psychology from the University of Cape Town, where she is also a part-time lecturer in Leading Teams for business students.
Lyn joined MMI Holdings Limited in 2010 as an Organisation Development Consultant. In the past years, she has fulfilled roles as Head of Organisation Development and Head of Human Capital in the wider Group, which contributed to the valuable experience she brings to the Executive Head role at Metropolitan.
Over the past 2 decades, she has gained experience in all aspects of the industry, this includes influencing strategy formulation and implementation, organisational effectiveness, people and leadership development, talent management, and change management. This experience drives her commitment to build and optimise organisational cultures where people love to work and become the best versions of themselves.
Her passion for development is not confined to the workplace, she is dedicated to the transformational development of impoverished communities on the Cape Flats. And to unwind after her outreach work, Lyn spends her time hiking, and playing with her children so that they build lasting memories together.
Irwhan Rakiep: Executive Head of IT
Irwhan is an IT leader and practical problem solver with a keen interest in new and disruptive technologies. He believes that the 4th industrial revolution will shape businesses of the future as well as client expectations, and therefore needs to be well understood in order for Metropolitan to remain a leading player in the financial services industry.
He holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours Computer Science) from the University of Cape Town, and qualifications in Business Management from Wits Business School.
Since joining the Metropolitan IT team in 2013, Irwhan held numerous positions until his promotion to Chief Information Officer in 2018. Anticipating a shift in the digital needs of clients and the financial services industry, in 2016 he launched an architectural revamp that has been instrumental in modernising the technology and application landscape which forms the foundation for many of the digital innovation within the business today. He and his team continue to advance the IT capabilities as the industry evolves.
Previously, Irwhan worked at Vodacom and Mweb, where he learned to appreciate the power of mobile devices and the internet. He remains deeply technical and passionate about software engineering, which he believes is changing the world.
Berniece Hieckmann: Executive Head of Strategic Business Transformation
Berniece has worked in the financial sector for more than 25 years and has both banking and insurance experience. Key strategic focus areas in her career have been bancassurance and emerging market strategies.
She has held positions in sales, business design, IT, finance, marketing and product development and this is mirrored in her studies which span law, finance, anthropology and futurism.
Her current focus is on evolving financial services from a 20th century mindset into leveraging the digital opportunities and pace of change of the rapidly evolving digital era.
When she isn't leading her team as they build innovative and strong digital offerings, this rabid reader and self-confessed Lego junkie spends quality time with her two amazing children who she adores.
Tlalane Ntuli: Chief Marketing Officer
Tlalane Ntuli is a seasoned professional who has held several executive positions in the marketing and distribution disciplines in the insurance sector. She co-founded insure-tech start-up Yalu Financial Services in 2017 where she served as the COO for 3 years.
Prior to Yalu, Tlalane was Head of Growth at FNB Life where she led their funeral product to becoming the fastest growing category product in the country. Tlalane has also held various senior marketing positions at FNB, Old Mutual and Glenrand MIB.
She holds a Human Resource Management Degree and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from the University of Cape Town and has completed various executive development programmes with UCT: GSB, GIBS and Henley.
In her private capacity, Tlalane is very family orientated and enjoys cooking and reading.
At Metropolitan, we're committed to being part of our country’s success story by empowering young people to make their aspirations their reality.
The Momentum Metropolitan Foundation
Our purpose is clear: to give disadvantaged young people in South Africa the tools they need to reach their goals in a sustainable way. We’ve partner with organisations with proven track records, who are equally invested in social innovation and creating their own sustainability.,
Youth skills training is a critical focus and our three pillars include:
Employment programmes
Job placement
Access to income-generating opportunities
It's not just adults who need help with financial education. It’s children, too. Metropolitan's aim is to empower the youth with healthy financial habits while building positive attitudes towards money.
By providing them with the tools and skills to achieve their future financial goals, we will leave our country and its success in capable hands.
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