Over 77 Percent of Life Insurance Market Share is Controlled by 7 Firms, IRA

Data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) has shown that only 7 firms out of the 27 majoring in life insurance control 77.6 percent of the Gross Premium Income (GPI).

The industry gross premiums written stood at 112.39 billion shillings as at end of June 2018, which represented an increase of 3.1 percent from 109.05 billion shillings in 2017. The industry growth was largely spurred by the general segment that grew by 4.5 percent compared to a growth of 0.7 percent in the long-term segment.

Nevertheless, IRA notes that Jubilee, Britam, ICEA Lion, CIC Life, Kenindia Assurance, Liberty Assurance, and Sanlam controlled more than two-thirds of the premium in the last quarter, up to June 31, 2018.

Of the total registered GPI; 41.4 billion shillings in the life segment, these seven firms trading in life assurance took home 32 billion shilling for the period under review. The remaining 9.4 billion shillings was shared by the remaining 20 firms.

Although the market share for the seven firms reported a decline compared to the same period in 2017, the other firms still scramble for success.

The report noted that the market share of the seven insurance companies dropped from 79 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2017 to 77.6 percent this year. During the 2017 quarter two financial year, the rest of the companies controlled 22.4 percent of the GPI.

The data from this year’s report conspicuously show how Jubilee Insurance has been displaced by Britam Insurance.

Britam now holds 25.4 percent of the GPI in life insurance, a significant growth from the 22.1 percent recorded in quarter two of 2017, whereas Jubilee controls 14.5 percent in the segment. The third position was held by ICEA Lion which commands 13.2 percent of the market share in life insurance.

Although Jubilee maintains the top position in general insurance, it lost a total of 6.3 percent of the GPI in the life insurance sector making it the biggest loser in the second quarter in both life and general insurance. Britam, on the hand, realized a growth of 4.2 percent in the market share.

Jubilee’s market share in general insurance dropped from 10.3 percent recorded in the same quarter in 2017 to 9.3 percent.