Liberty Life has strengthened its presence in Africa by opening an office in Namibia. This follows the recent  launch of the Liberty Life Swaziland office in July this year and further increases the company’s footprint in southern Africa. 
Charter Life (Liberty Namibia’s current life business) has largely been a bancassurance business focusing on Credit Life, Funeral Policies and traditional group assurance products.  In November 2003 Charter Life Namibia was granted a licence to operate as a life insurance company and in May 2008 was officially registered and rebranded as Liberty Life Namibia. September 10, 2008 marks the official launch of Liberty Life Namibia business. 
The initial product offering will be aimed at corporate and government, making use of the intermediary model that uses a network of approved distributors. The offering will be enhanced in the near future with property products, healthcare and general insurance products.
A strong line up of local executives is in place to drive and ensure the success of the business.  Seasoned accountant Christelle Loots has been appointed as Managing Executive of the business.  The business builds on an established Standard Bank and STANLIB base in Windhoek. 
“Our focus is to enhance the foundation of our brand and take it to new heights. We strive to treat all our people fairly and respectfully by considering their views, their needs, contributions and beliefs”, says Loots.
In addition, Namibian national Jerome Mouton, has been appointed as Liberty Life’s Southern Region Director, based in Windhoek, to manage an area that includes Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. Mouton believes Liberty’s commitment to Namibia is reflected in the relocation of the Southern African Regional Office to Windhoek.   The geo-strategic location of this regional hub of excellence will serve the Wealth Management expansion drive into the rest of Southern Africa (Angola, Zambia and DRC) well into the future.
Bernard Katompa, CEO Liberty Africa, added “We are very excited about the launch of Liberty Life Namibia. It represents a key stepping stone in our strategic objectives to expand our wealth management offering into Africa.”
Katompa continued, “There is great apprecia-tion for our refusal to operate “out of a suitcase” when serving these mar-kets.  We invest in local infrastructure, local people and local development.  This is taken as a signal that we intend to stay and grow.  In all markets where we operate, the businesses are run by experienced and skilled locals. When we use expatriate expertise, it is only as a means of transferring skills.