Sanlam Kenya Loss Hits 1.9 Billion Shillings

Sanlam Kenya has registered a loss of 1.98 billion shillings for the 2018 financial year, further deepening the financial woes facing the insurance service provider.

In 2017, the company staggered to register a profit of 53 million shillings attributing the losses to low insurance uptake among Kenyans.

Sanlam Kenya has attributed the current loss to debts that amount to bad 1.14 billion shillings that are said to have been issued to Kaluworks, Real People and Athi River Mining Cement.

The loss has also been attributed to the new regulatory requirement that led to the company setting aside 650 million shillings in the statutory reserve fund thus reducing its recorded earnings.

The company was among others that issued profit warnings in 2018 with the company then blaming its woes on relaxed regulations on the issuance of corporate bonds.

This was after in 2017, Sanlam suffered the pain of writing off 1 billion shillings after it became apparent that the Chase Bank and Imperial Bank bonds it had invested in were irredeemable.

Sanlam’s revenue from its life and general insurance businesses dropped by 24 million shillings.