Several insurance firms have been raided over their alleged collusion to fix prices or trading conditions for several policies.

The Competition Commission conducted the search and seizure operations at eight insurance firms’ offices, including Discovery, Hollard, Momentum, Old Mutual Insure Limited, and Sanlam.

The Commission says that these companies share information on premium rates for risk-related products, and fees for investment products. This practice affected the pricing of retirement annuities, and premiums for dread disease cover, chronic medical condition cover, disability cover, life cover and funeral assistance benefits. 

Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele says that the search and seizure process is part of routine evidence gathering.

Other investment companies affected include BrightRock, Professional Provident Society, and FMI, which is a division of Bidvest Life.