Prime
Centenary, Absa dominate bancassurance earnings
During the period ended March, Absa was one of the largest performers in the bancassurance category, writing Shs5.95b worth of premiums from 73,378 policies. Photo | file
What you need to know:
Centenary Bank wrote the largest premiums in the life category, recording Shs8.25b from 559 policies, from which it earned Shs801.4m in commission
Centenary Bank and Absa wrote the largest premiums from bancassurance for the quarter ended March, details from Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) show.
During the period, data from IRA indicates, Centenary Bank wrote the largest premiums in the life category, recording Shs8.25b from 559 policies, from which it earned Shs801.4m in commission.
It was followed by Absa, which wrote Shs5.95b from 73,378 policies, from which it earned Shs1b while Stanbic, Standard Chartered and dfcu followed with written premiums worth Shs4.1b, Shs1.6b and 1.02b, respectively.
Life contributed the largest premiums in the bancassurance category, from which Shs25.97b was written out of the Shs34.33b gross premiums that was recorded during the period.
Bancassurance has been one of the fastest growing segments of insurance, contributing at least 8.33 percent of industry gross written premiums.
During the period, bancassurance grew by 40 percent with gross written premiums increasing to Shs34.33b from Shs24.4b in the same period last year.
As a whole, the insurance sector grew by 17.47 percent during the period, demonstrating resilience, amid a challenging economic environment characterised by Covid-19 disruptions and a surge in commodity prices, which has resulted into heightened inflationary pressures.
During the period, insurance gross written premiums increased to Shs412b from Shs351.b, with the non-life insurance category contributing the largest written premiums.
Non-life contributed 60.99 percent of written premiums or Shs251.5b while life contributed Shs121.8b.
In the bancassurance non-life category, premiums worth Shs8.35b were written with Stanbic and Housing Finance Bank writing the largest amounts.
Stanbic Bank wrote Shs2.36b from 6,105 policies, from which it earned Shs342m and paid out Shs497.5m worth of 118 claims, while, Housing Finance Bank wrote Shs1.47b from 52 policies, from which it earned Shs319.5m and paid out Shs18.9m worth of claims.
The two banks were the only ones to write premiums there were above Shs1b in the non-life bancassurance category.
Other big earners in the non-life bancassurance category during the period covering January to March included KCB, which wrote Shs810.6m from 194 policies, Standard Chartered Bank, which wrote Shs67.9m from 41 policies and Centenary Bank, which wrote Shs575.8m from 1,428 policies.
