South African investors – especially retail investors who use online platforms to buy equities – are at risk of the value of their investments being diminished by disclosures of fraud or unethical practices within the companies they’re invested in.
To mitigate this risk, disruptive insurance start-up InvestSure created a product which insures share owners against losses as a result of deceptive or misleading acts by companies. To take the product live in a way that integrated seamlessly with online trading platforms – and was cost-effective – InvestSure engaged specialist software provider and cloud-computing experts Synthesis Software Technologies.
According to David Webster, Software Developer at Synthesis, “InvestSure wanted a highly-available, cost-effective solution. We recommended using an Amazon Web Services (AWS) serverless architecture coupled with AWS storage, management and integration tools. Using these managed services we were able to achieve high availability, delivering policies and claims to new customers in near real time. This suited InvestSure because it meant that they did not have to worry about keeping their own servers up and running. Also, since they only pay for the services they use, they were able to achieve their desired cost efficiencies.”
The InvestSure solution enables a buyer to select a share online and request insurance via an application programming interface (API). Due diligence is done on the prospective risk cover request and a policy is issued via the underwriter. If the share price drops by more than 10 per cent due to fraud by the company’s management, the insurance automatically pays out—within 10 seconds.
The solution is currently live with InvestSure’s first online share trading partner Easy Equities.
“InvestSure can, with this API, increase its market footprint rapidly as partners with more online share platforms in South Africa and globally,” says Shane Curran, who co-founded InvestSure with two other young South African professionals, Mbulelo Mpofana and Ignatious Nkwinika.
“Synthesis has delivered a solution that has outperformed our expectations,” notes Mpofana. “It is completely automated, paperless, provides a seamless user experience, and is highly available, secure and scalable. It also meets South African regulatory requirements.”
“The Synthesis team has added tremendous value,” concludes Nkwinika. “The architecture makes sense for us as a start-up in terms of cost and scalability, and they leave us with a solution that is built for continuous change – a fundamental requirement for an insuretech hoping to build a strong partner ecosystem and continuously evolve its value proposition.”
ENDS
For more information on the innovative work Synthesis has done for its blue-chip clients, contact:
Leanne Goott
Marketing Manager
www.synthesis.co.za
087 654 3300
For media interviews please contact:
Michael Rubenstein
Aprio
082 903 7797
About Synthesis
Synthesis Software Technologies, founded in 1997, offers specialised software development, consulting and integration services and technology-based product solutions to banking and financial institutions in South Africa and other emerging markets.
As Amazon Web Services’ first company to achieve Advanced Consulting Partner status in Africa, Synthesis is focused on building advanced cloud architecture for customers, delivering cost-efficient, web-scale and highly available services with global reach.
Synthesis is a true South African success story, with JSE-listed Capital Appreciation Limited, having acquired 100 per cent of the company in 2017. Following the acquisition Synthesis remains an independent operating entity within the Capital Appreciation Group.
