High claims in the insurance industry continued to pile pressure on insurers in the country, despite an improving business environment in post-pandemic era.
Latest industry data shows insurance industry premiums increased by 11.4 per cent to hit Sh 237.9 billion in the third quarter of (Q3) 2022, from Sh213.53 billion in a similar period the previous year.
The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) latest quarterly report for the period July - September 2022 indicates general insurance business recorded a total of Sh134.4 billion in insurance premiums (56.5 per cent of industry total premiums), up from Sh121.4 billion recorded in Q3 2021.
Nevertheless, claims were up at Sh56.8 billion which is 76.3 per cent of the earned premiums in the business segment, up from Sh5 1.3 billion.
This saw the general insurance business remain at a loss of Sh2.26 billion, despite it being an improvement from Sh4.13 billion in 2021.
“Motor motor private, motor commercial and personal accident classes of general insurance business incurred the highest underwriting losses of Sh2.89 billion, Sh1.75 billion and Sh868.74 million respectively,” IRA notes.
Claims in long-term insurance business also remain at the same levels of Sh60 billion incurred during the same period in 2021, despite slightly easing from Sh61.5 billion.
The segment however recorded an increase in premiums, which stood at Sh103.49 billion accounting for 43.5 per cent of the total industry premium, adding to gains made by the industry during the period.
Under general insurance business, fire industrial gross premium income had the highest growth of 30.9 per cent, from Sh11.55 billion reported in Q3 2021 to Sh15.12 billion reported in Q3 2022.
Personal accident had the largest decline from Sh2.12 billion recorded in Q3 2021 to Sh2.02 billion in Q3 2022.
Workmen’s compensation class made the highest underwriting profit of Sh2.48 billion, IRA notes.
The overall industry’s strong performance has been attributed to continued economic recovery from the negative effect of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.
The underwriting performance of the general insurance continued to make an improvement recording a loss of KES 2.26 billion from a loss of KES 4.13 billion reported in Q3 2021,”IRA said in a statement yesterday.
Deposit administration and life assurance classes remained the biggest contributors to the long-term insurance business Gross Premium Income accounting for 36.3 per cent and 25.2 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, the reinsurers’ business volume increased by 29.1 per cent to Sh28.06 billion in Q3 2022 compared to Sh21.73 billion in 2021, improving the underwriting results significantly from a loss of Sh245.80 million to a profit of Sh1.26 billion.
The insurance industry profit before tax grew by about three per cent to Sh9.1 billion when compared to 8.79 billion recorded in a similar period in 2021.
Asset base grew by 9.8 per cent to Sh 918.02 billion at end of Q3 2022 from the Sh836.11billion held at end of Q3 2021.
A significant portion of total assets, Sh 805.42 billion or 85.6 per cent, were held in income generating investments.
