In view of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in South Africa, the Prudential SA management team has taken several steps to (1) protect the welfare of our own staff, clients and third parties, and (2) to ensure our business operations can continue relatively uninterrupted.

In view of these measures, which are outlined below, we are confident that we will be in a position to actively manage our clients’ portfolios for as long as the virus is a threat, whether this be at our offices or from our alternative disaster recovery site. We are also in a position where all South African staff can work from home, should that become a necessity. We would like to assure our clients that we are doing all we can to mitigate any potential negative impacts on our operations.

Governments’ and businesses’ responses are developing at a high speed as the crisis unfolds. We are in regular contact with members of the M&G plc team in London (Prudential SA’s United Kingdom-based shareholder) who are coordinating M&G’s responses to the crisis and providing useful guidance to us.

Our Business Continuity plans for the Cape Town “Day Zero” water scarcity crisis in early 2018 are proving to be useful now and many of the learnings and planning from that time are finding application in this crisis.

In a worst-case scenario that forces us to vacate our primary premises for an extended period of time, we have a Disaster Recovery plan in place, part of which includes maintaining a separate, fully equipped facility from which a core team of staff can immediately manage our clients’ portfolios. It has been regularly tested, and we are confident that we are prepared for relocation of our core operations should it be necessary.

With our Business Continuity Planning fully in place and our staff prepared for most eventualities, we are able to continue focusing on market valuations and actively managing our clients’ funds to the best of our ability during these difficult times.