Old Mutual, Africa’s biggest life insurance group, admitted on Friday that expanding its business into Africa carries major risks.

Julian Roberts, Old Mutual CEO, said expanding into the African continent could increase execution and reputational risks. It could also increase legal and people risks.

“The level of investment in new territories is still relatively small; while nominally more capital has been allocated to these territories, from an economic capital perspective they are not yet material to emerging markets. The approach has been cautious, and volumes of business are low,” Roberts said.

“We perform due diligence and careful groundwork before entering new territories to ensure we fully understand the risk that we are taking on. Where possible we consider partnering with local businesses rather than going in on our own.”

Roberts added that the company monitors new business levels in a target country and requires capital for these businesses.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Roberts was paid a total package of R33 million in 2012 ($3.5 million).

The company’s annual report shows that Roberts got a salary of £870 000 (R21.1m), short-term incentives of £1.15 million and benefits worth £341 000 for a total package of £2.36 million (R33m).

Roberts’ payment moved up 0.5 percent from £2.35 million in 2011. He got £6.6 million in shares after the company posted an 18 percent surge in profit to£1.6 billion.