Momentum Life Insurance appoints Joretha Bothma to lead Myriad

Bothma brings more than 25 years of life insurance experience to her new role as Executive Head of Myriad

Momentum Life Insurance has appointed accomplished actuary and industry leader Joretha Bothma as Executive Head of Myriad, its flagship individual life insurance product.

A Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA), Bothma has extensive expertise across product development, underwriting, claims, reinsurance, digital transformation and operational excellence.

Bothma joined Momentum Life Insurance in 2017 and has since held several leadership positions within the business. Most recently, she served as Head of Product Development, Underwriting and Claims, playing an integral role in shaping Myriad and advancing its product, underwriting and digital capabilities.

Her appointment comes as changing client needs and expectations continue to influence the role of life insurance and how clients and financial advisers engage with it.

“Life insurance has an important and deeply human purpose: helping people protect their loved ones, financial responsibilities and future plans,” says Bothma. “As the world around us changes, we need to continue evolving how we support clients and financial advisers while remaining anchored in the reliability, trust and long-term confidence that sit at the heart of life insurance.”

Building on a strong foundation

Throughout her tenure, Bothma has been instrumental in advancing initiatives such as FastTrack underwriting and enhancing LifeReturns®, Momentum Life Insurance’s digital screening and discount mechanism.

These developments have helped simplify aspects of the life insurance journey while maintaining the importance of robust underwriting and appropriate financial advice.

“Innovation should make life insurance simpler and more accessible without compromising the quality of the underlying product or underwriting,” says Bothma. “Technology allows us to remove unnecessary complexity and equip financial advisers with better tools and insights. This gives them more time to understand their clients and provide the personalised advice that remains essential to effective financial planning.”

Encouraging ongoing engagement through health reassessments

Bothma believes the value of life insurance should extend beyond the point at which a policy is taken out. Through LifeReturns®, clients are encouraged to complete yearly health and fitness reassessments that provide updated insight into selected indicators as their health and lifestyle change over time.

“Health is not static. Factors such as fitness, stress and lifestyle can change, which is why regular reassessments can give clients useful insight into aspects of their health and fitness,” says Bothma. “Where a result may warrant further attention, clients can be encouraged to consult an appropriate healthcare professional.”

The reassessment process can also create an opportunity for clients and their financial advisers to reconnect. While it does not replace a broader financial-needs review, it can prompt a conversation about changes in a client’s life and whether their financial protection needs should be reviewed.

Leading Myriad’s continued growth

As Executive Head of Myriad, Bothma is responsible for leading the strategic direction and continued growth of the business. Her focus will be on delivering positive outcomes for clients, financial advisers and the business through innovation, client focus and sustainable value creation.

“The opportunity ahead is to build on Myriad’s strong foundation while remaining responsive to the changing needs of clients and advisers,” she says. “This requires us to combine our technical expertise with client insight, disciplined execution and a clear understanding of the real-life needs our solutions are designed to address.”

Bothma graduated with an honours degree in Commerce from the University of Pretoria in 2001 and began her career at Liberty Life in 2002. Before joining Momentum Life Insurance, she held senior leadership positions at Liberty Life, First National Bank and Alexander Forbes Life, where she contributed to the growth and development of their life insurance businesses and product offerings.

Her combination of actuarial expertise, broad life insurance experience and detailed knowledge of the Myriad business positions her well to lead its continued growth and development.