AfriMoney to Sell SanlamAllianz Insurance in Angola

SanlamAllianz and AfriMoney have teamed up in Angola to let customers buy and pay for insurance straight from the mobile-money app, in a push to bring cover to a country where few people have it.

Buying insurance in Angola used to mean paperwork, branch visits and time. A new partnership between insurer SanlamAllianz and mobile-money platform AfriMoney, announced on 8 September 2026 in Luanda, aims to reduce that to a few taps on a phone.

What the SanlamAllianz-AfriMoney deal does

Under the agreement, customers can learn about, subscribe to and pay for SanlamAllianz insurance products directly inside the AfriMoney app, wherever they are. Premiums are paid from the same mobile wallet people already use for daily payments.

The deal was signed by Luís Mocave, an administrator of AfriMoney, and Vera André, the chief executive of SanlamAllianz. In a joint statement, the two companies called it an important step toward bringing financial and insurance services to more citizens and promoting financial and insurance inclusion across the country.

The logic is simple. Most Angolans do not have an insurance policy, but a growing share of them carry a mobile-money wallet. Putting insurance inside that wallet removes the biggest barrier: access.

Who is behind the partnership

AfriMoney is the mobile-money arm of Africell Angola, the country’s second-largest mobile operator. Africell entered Angola in 2022 and has grown quickly by offering cheap data and digital services.

SanlamAllianz is the joint venture that South Africa’s Sanlam and Germany’s Allianz created for Africa, approved by regulators in September 2023. It operates across 27 African markets, with a combined group equity value put at the time at about R35 billion (about US$2 billion).

The pairing gives SanlamAllianz a digital shop window with a mass customer base, and gives AfriMoney a broader range of financial products that keep users inside its app.

A small market with room to grow

Angola’s insurance sector is growing fast but from a low base. The sector expanded by 21 percent in 2025 to about US$634 million, according to figures reported by Luanda business media. Insurance penetration, the share of the population with any cover at all, remains among the lowest in the region.

That gap is exactly what makes the market attractive. Every new mobile-money user is a potential first-time insurance customer, and digital distribution is far cheaper than building branch networks.

For Angola’s government, wider insurance coverage also matters. Families with even basic cover are less exposed to shocks, and a bigger insurance sector creates a pool of long-term domestic savings that can fund investment.

The bigger pattern

The deal fits a continent-wide race to lock up Africa’s underserved financial customers. South African insurers are expanding through partnerships rather than branches, while mobile operators and fintechs are becoming the main distribution channels, a shift tracked in Africa: The New Scramble.

Angola is a particular prize. It is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, its economy is opening to private capital, and its consumers are moving straight from cash to mobile money without ever passing through a bank branch.

If the model works in Angola, expect similar insurer-fintech tie-ups across Portuguese-speaking Africa and beyond.

What to watch next

The first test is the product line-up: which SanlamAllianz policies go live on AfriMoney, at what price, and how claims are handled on a phone.

Watch for take-up numbers. The partners will want to show that mobile users actually convert into policyholders, not just browsers.

Also watch the competition. Angola’s established insurers, led by state-linked players, will not leave the digital channel to a newcomer without a response.

More: Angola news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

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