40 years on, Kenya Re is stronger than ever

By John Oyuke

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) plans to accelerate the expansion of its operations across Africa as it seeks to up its presence in key growth markets.

The oldest re-insurer in the region—with offices in Africa, Middle East and Asia — has a business presence in over 45 countries and in over 170 insurance companies in Africa and beyond.

“The corporation continues to look at opportunities for further expansions through branch set-ups in other parts of Africa,” Managing Director, Jadiah Mwarania said.

Mwarania said Kenya Re has also put in place structures to ensure it is fully re-Takaful compliant to position the corporation to take full advantage of the ever-growing global re-Takaful reinsurance market.

 “I am pleased to inform you that Kenya Re has a fully operational Sharia supervisory board,” he said during a Cocktail party held for clients of the Corporation in Nairobi last week.

A Sharia Supervisory Board ensures that all transactions and operations adhere fully to Islamic Sharia provisions and principles. Takaful-branded insurance is based on Sharia, Islamic religious law, which says that it is the responsibility of individuals to cooperate and protect each other.

According to the Corporation’s trading result as at June this year, its gross written premiums grew by 23 per cent compared to June last year to stand at Sh3.36 billion.

The net earned premiums grew from 24 per cent from Sh2.3b last year to Sh2.8b this year, while pre-tax profits grew by 51 per cent from Sh1.02 billion last year to 1.55 billion this year.

Profits for the half-year ended June grew to Sh1.2b, a 47 per cent improvement from Sh847m last year.

“We have taken time to create adequate internal capacity to structuring and quoting for treaties and facultative in virtually any class of life and non-life reassurance,” Mwarania said

In addition, the Corporation is able to offer reinsurance capacity in emerging classes of insurance — micro-insurance, re-Takaful, political risks and agriculture, among others.