High net worth individuals are cutting their insurance premiums as the recession continues to bite, Pinion Insurance Brokers said on Tuesday.

"While mass market insurance providers often see customers searching for cheaper policies, this is a relatively new trend amongst wealthy clients," head of insurance Clint Harker said in a statement.

Fortunes have tumbled

"The fortunes of South Africa's wealthiest individuals have tumbled over the last two years, with the net worth of the country's most wealthy individuals halving in 2008 to R58.5-billion."

Consequently the wealthy had become much more price conscious over the last 12 months. One way for them to reduce their insurance costs was to review the value of their assets, to ensure they were not paying unnecessarily high premiums.

Wasted money

An insurer would only pay out for what something was worth, "so if your premiums overestimate the value of your assets, it is simply wasted money".

Harker advised clients whose policies required them to list all items being covered to consider removing smaller-priced things from their policies.

Not worth it to insure

"For those who are becoming increasingly price sensitive, the increase in premiums to insure a phone that is worth R3000 is often not worth it.

"Instead, for clients who are looking to reduce their premiums, it may be more cost effective to self-insure smaller items instead of specifying them on a policy."