Ithala Mitigates High Risk through Leadership from PIC Solutions

Cape Town, 25 January 2006 – Ithala Limited has signed a comprehensive RiskMentor contract with PIC Solutions for credit and risk management support.

Ithala, a KwaZulu Natal based organisation, provides financial services across the entire development spectrum in the low to middle income market including insurance, savings facilities and home loans.  As a result of the diversity of their high risk market, Ithala appointed PIC Solutions to review their current decision making criteria regarding account acquisition and collections policies.

This RiskMentor consulting contract will provide Ithala with ongoing credit and risk management consulting support over the next 12 months. In addition to the RiskMentor service, PIC Solutions’ consultants will conduct an Applications Processing HealthCheck and a Collections HealthCheck on the organisation’s home loans portfolio.

The key objective of this assignment is to highlight a number of areas for development that will lead to improved business results, best practice benchmarking and profitable business growth. Through these HealthChecks, Ithala will gain insight into their current business operations and will also have access to PIC Solutions expertise to meets their ongoing objectives.

Sibusiso Luthuli, Ithala Limited’s Managing Director, states, “Ithala operates in a dynamic industry and the HealthChecks will help us determine the best way forward in terms of our account management and collections strategies. We selected PIC Solutions for their extensive business knowledge and experience. Their consultants will review our home loans portfolio and ensure that our existing policies effectively match industry best practices, which in turn will positively impact our bottom line.”

Stephen Leonard, Managing Director of PIC Solutions, comments, “It is vital that organisations continuously review their applications processing and collections environment. By aligning their policies with new strategies, Ithala can maximise all opportunities and ensure their business evolves with industry changes. With the aid of the HealthChecks, Ithala can determine how to improve their home loans portfolio and effectively use their resources to reduce costs.”