Who we are

We are a leading financial services institution founded on the principles of consumer engagement and wellness. Our approach to financial products is highly differentiated and involves integrating our entire product range with our science-based wellness programme, Vitality. The integration with Vitality has enabled us to improve our competitive position by offering unique products with better benefits and at a lower price than our competitors.

In South Africa, we operate in the health insurance market through Discovery Health, the life assurance market through Discovery Life, the financial services market through Discovery Invest and DiscoveryCard and in the wellness arena through Discovery Vitality. All operating subsidiaries are 100% owned by Discovery.

In the United Kingdom, PruProtection, our joint venture with Prudential Plc, offers consumer-engaged health and life insurance products through PruHealth and PruProtect. PruProtection has successfully leveraged Discovery’s Vitality-integrated approach in both markets.

In the United States, we launched a stand-alone version of our leading wellness programme, Vitality, which is being sold to self-insured, large employer groups and to healthcare carriers. Through this model, we are able to capitalise on the emerging trend towards wellness in the US.

Discovery Holdings listed on the JSE in 1999 and has no other listings on local or international equity or debt exchanges.

 

Our values

Our core purpose and values guide us in all we do

A clear and profound promise: to make people healthier, and enhance and protect their lives

Discovery’s core purpose of making people healthier and enhancing and protecting their lives may sound idealistic, especially in our financial services context. Yet we believe strongly in our ability to create marked change in the lives of our clients.

This is because we only enter markets where we see the need for structural change, and we know our unique skills-set equips us to bring about the necessary change. This is because our products and services affect fundamental areas of social need – people’s health, wellbeing and financial security.

Discovery’s eight core values

  1. Innovation and optimism
  2. Business astuteness and prudence
  3. Great people
  4. Liberating the best in our people
  5. Integrity, honesty and fairness
  6. Intellectual leadership
  7. Tenacity, urgency and drive
  8. Dazzle clients

Discovery’s business methodology

A set of eight values frames our business methodology and guides everything we do, with no compromise.

Each value is a guiding principle in its own right. But we achieve best results by the way we apply the most contradictory values of innovation, financial prudence and consumerism to create health and life assurance products that deliver value and efficiency.

This stimulates consumer demand for our products, which in turn leads to rapid organic growth and profitability for shareholders.


Discovery today

We’re a fully integrated health, life and financial services organisation

Discovery is a financial services organisation that operates in South Africa, the United Kingdom, China and the United States of America. Discovery was established in 1992, initially as a specialist risk manager in the private health insurance market. It has since expanded into a fully integrated financial services organisation spanning the following key markets:

1.   Consumer-engaged health assurance

Discovery’s health assurance subsidiaries, Discovery Health in South Africa and PruHealth in the UK, offer health assurance products that aim to make people healthier and provide comprehensive cover for medical expenses when they are sick.

2.   Consumer-engaged life assurance

Through Discovery Life in South Africa and PruProtect in the UK, Discovery provides flexible benefits that meet policyholder needs, and that price risk dynamically to offer better value for money.

3.   Financial services

In the financial services arena in South Africa, Discovery uses the power of consumerism to maximise value:

  • DiscoveryCard – a Visa credit card offering – rewards wellness and allows integration between Discovery’s product offerings
  • Discovery Invest leverages the cost-efficiencies and risk management expertise of our integrated approach to offer unique performance guarantees and cost savings

4.   Wellness

The Vitality wellness programme is the foundation of each of Discovery’s businesses in the UK and South Africa, and is available as a stand-alone product for employer groups and health insurers in the USA.

 

 

Awards and Achievements

  • The Discovery Health Medical Scheme received an AA+ rating for its risk management and claims-paying ability from international credit rating agency Global Credit Ratings.
  • Discovery Health was rated the top medical aid brand in the 2011 Sunday Times Top Brands survey.
  • Discovery Life was voted the top life assurer in the 2011 Sunday Times Top Brands survey.
  • Discovery Health was awarded the Healthcare Product Supplier of the Year at the 2011 Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA) Awards.
  • Discovery Life was awarded the Long-term Insurer of the Year – Recurring Savings at the 2011 Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA) Awards
  • PruProtect received the Innovation Award at the 2011 Protection Review.
  • At the 2011 Defaqto Awards, PruProtect received awards in the Critical Illness Stand Alone, Critical Illness Level Term, Critical Illness Decreasing Term and Income Protection Stand Alone categories.
  • PruProtect was named the Most Improved Provider, Best New Initiative Winner and Best New Impact for 2011 by Life Search.