NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 1 -UAP Insurance Kenya recorded a 42 percent decline in its 2020 pretax profit to Sh720 million, compared to Sh1.249 billion from the prior year.
The company Managing Director David Kuria said this was largely driven by poor performance from equities.
During the year, equities recorded one of the worst performances worldwide as foreign investors withdrew capital flows from the market fearing a market collapse, leading to significant reduction in the securities prices traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Despite the reduction in profit, the insurance firm recorded a growth in gross written premium by 13 percent from Sh9.37 billion in 2019 to Sh10.61Bn in 2020, while the net earned premiums increased by 8 percent.
Further, the net claims payables marginally increasing by 5 percent in line with business growth, while the claims ratio improved from 67 percent in prior year to 65 percent in 2020.
Kuria says the improvement was driven by the Company’s focus on profitable business growth as well as transformative claims cost management initiatives undertaken.
“This strong performance, despite the impact of Covid-19, is attributed to our strategic focus on profitable growth and providing differentiated customer experiences through digitization of our solutions and innovative offerings, underwriting excellence and enhancing our discipline in operation excellence. In addition, we implemented prudent risk selection, innovation in claims value chain and cost control which are key strategic initiatives geared towards enabling us to achieve these great results” said Kuria.
UAP Insurance Company has continued to post improved performance resulting in a strong balance sheet with a total asset base of Sh16.7 billion and total equity of Sh6.7 billion.
The company also won Claims Settlement award during the 2020 Think Business Awards which is a testament of their promise to their customers – a certain friend in uncertain times.
