PROFILE Case for the claimant
The voluntary ombudsmen who deal with complaints about financial services such as banking and insurance can be a scary lot. They are usually crusty elderly gentlemen and often retired judges.
The new ombudsman for short-term insurance certainly breaks the mould. Deanne Wood is a 42-year-old advocate who has just been made senior counsel. She certainly has the qualifications: the main requirement for the job is to have practised at least 15 years as an advocate or an attorney.
Much of her practice has also been in resolving insurancerelated disputes, though her main expertise is in pension law. “Over the years I have become fluent in actuary, which was a hard language to learn.”
The ombudsman’s board chairman, Martin Brassey SC, says she was the unanimous choice of the board: he himself had worked closely with Wood, who had been his junior in a number of cases.
It is a mystery, however, why an advocate, having taken silk, with many lucrative years ahead of her, has decided to pack it all in for a modest salary as an ombudsman.
“The trouble with the bar is that there is no safety net,” says Wood. “If you can’t get to work you don’t earn money. It can be a seven-day-a-week job with utterly unpredictable hours.”
She says this doesn’t make sense to her right now as she is a divorced mother of three children, twin girls aged nine and a boy aged seven. “I like change, I hope I will be embarking on a much more stable and predictable job.”
She adds that few advocates get the chance to do something else, especially something which can benefit the industry and its customers the way that running an ombudsman’s office can.
“I will be able to apply my mind to cases based on their importance rather than with an eye towards maximising billable hours.”
Wood has had her fair share of new experiences at the ombudsman’s office, including her first ever day of paid leave, which she says doesn’t exist at the bar.
Wood was brought up in Johannesburg and studied at the then University of Natal. She went to London to work in the City, ending up at Barclays Capital, but came back to join the Johannesburg bar in 1999.
“It’s a small place, though it grew in the time I was there from 800 [people] to 1,000. But I believe we have become too exclusive. Ordinary people simply cannot afford our services, so we are focused on corporates and the very rich.”
In contrast, the ombudsman for short-term insurance’s office provides a free service. It is a complex organisation which has awarded more than R100m to complaining clients. It deals with almost 10,000 claims a year (almost half for motor insurance alone) with a staff of 45: the people-management alone will be a challenge for Wood.
She says that some might question the impartiality of the office as it is funded by the short-term insurance industry, but it has proved that it acts in an independent manner.
“We are not a consumer activist but aim to be both efficient and right in our rulings.”
In her spare time Wood teaches the skills of advocacy, such as cross-examination, at home and overseas, most recently in England and Malaysia. How can you say there is a revolt at the SABC when people are excited and are happy working? I don’t know if the media has its own agenda against the SABC . . . We are going to deal decisively with people who don’t follow the editorial policy of the SABC. SA Broadcasting Corp COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng at a press conference on Tuesday.