- The unit posted Sh436 million in gross earnings for the year ended December 31, 2022.
- According to IRA, insurance firms paid at least Sh10.34 billion to customers abandoning last year
Image: HANDOUT
Old Mutual Life Assurance Kenya Limited (OMLAK) has posted a 23 percent top-line growth in Gross Written Premiums to Sh4 billion in the year ended December 31, 2022.
The mother firm, Old Mutual Holding Plc attributes the more than 300 per cent growth to paying claims on time, driving customer satisfaction and strategic partnerships.
It has also enhanced its corporate clientele by 71 per cent, its retail business grew by 45 per cent and seven per cent for the pension business.
The unit posted Sh436 million in gross earnings for the year ended December 31, 2022, a Sh214 million loss made the previous year.
OMLAK acting managing director Calvince Onduru said they are happy to bounce back.
"This compared to the industry growth is very impressive and we are glad that as a group we embarked on fixing the basics,'' Onduru said.
He added that the business remains solid as it is fairly capitalised with assets of up to Sh29 billion and a capital adequacy ratio of 172 per cent.
"We are positive that with the Guaranteed fund net performance of eight per cent in the year 2022, we shall continue to make even bigger strides in supporting our client towards achieving employee financial security,'' he said.
The growth is coming at a time customers abandoning policies in the face of hard economic times.
The latest data by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows insurance firms paid at least Sh10.34 billion to customers abandoning last year.
It shows the value of policy surrenders during the review period was nearly the same as the Sh10.45 billion that was cashed out in a similar period in 2021.
Customers were pulling out of products such as life assurance, pension and investment products which are usually long-term in nature.
The highest value of surrenders was from deposit administration where customers cashed out Sh4.59 billion followed by Sh2.57 billion from life assurance.
OMLAK's parent firm posted a 216 per cent growth in profit before tax in the year ended December 31, 2022, to close at Sh202 million, driven by solid top-line growth and higher investment income.
The record improvement was a recovery from a loss before taxes of Sh175 million registered during a similar review period in 2021.