• Industry premiums, assets, investments and shareholder funds all recorded growth between the April – June 2019 period to reflect growth within the industry.
• During the period, the claims incurred by the 56 underwriters,including re-insurance firms, amounted to Sh28.84 billion. Insurance Regulatory Authority(IRA) stand at a recent conference in Nairobi/Courtesy The insurance industry has recorded an increase in the premiums underwritten between April and June 2019 even as Kenya lags behind on insurance penetration compared to her peers.
The sector which has equally been destabilised since the capping of interest rates, that has constrained lending to insurable investment projects and assets, defied the odds to hit Sh17.28 billion on underwritten premiums.
This was a 4.4 per cent increase compared to Sh112.39 billion recorded over the same period in 2018, the Insurance Regulatory Authority(IRA) data shows.
This development is largely attributed to the 2.9 per cent growth recorded by the general
business segment and 6.9 per cent by the long term insurance business segment,” IRA notes in its quarter two report.
The increase in general business was mainly contributed by medical and motor private insurance classes of business which accounted for 66.8 per cent of the gross premium income.
During the period, the claims incurred by the 56 underwriters(including re-insurance firms) amounted to Sh28.84 billion.
This was a decrease of 1.3 per cent from the Sh29.21 billion reported at the same time in 2018.
Medical insurance, motor private and motor commercial were the largest contributors to the claims incurred with each contributing 33.6 per cent,27.9 per cent and 25.1 per cent respectively.
According to the IRA , investors’ equity funds grew by 4.0 per cent to stand at Sh157.83 billion as at the end of June 2019 from Sh151.78 billion reported in the same period of 2018.The shareholders’ fund comprised of retained earnings at 39.3 per cent , share capital at 29.4 per cent , statutory reserves at 14.7 per cent , revaluation reserves at 2.6 per cent and share premium at 5.4 per cent.During the period , government securities (treasury bills and bonds) maintained their attractiveness to long term insurers comprising 67.3 per cent(Sh257.56 billion) of the total long term insurers’ investments.“The total value of the industry assets during the period grew by 7.6 per cent to Sh672.13 billion from Sh.624.59 billion held as at the end of June 2018.“82.8 per cent (Sh556.32 billion) of these assets were held in income generating investments,” IRA noted.During the period under […]
