Kenya's insurance industry faces its claims moment

Insurance companies rarely confront their defining challenges during periods of crisis. More often, moments of introspection emerge during growth, when expansion exposes structural weaknesses that scale alongside success.

Kenya’s insurance sector finds itself in such a phase, where premium volumes are rising, reaching Sh352.29 billion by the third quarter of 2025 as total industry assets surpassed Sh1 trillion for the first time.

Regulators attribute this growth partly to innovation and increasing recognition of insurance as a financial protection tool. However, penetration remains stubbornly low at just over two per cent of GDP, far below the global average of 7 per cent and behind several peer emerging markets. The implication is difficult to ignore because it confirms that while market capacity exists, public confidence refuses to scale at the same pace.

This tension framed discussions at the inaugural claims conference by Minet in Naivasha earlier this month, where we reflected a growing recognition that opaque claims processes by some players are undermining industry legitimacy, leading to apprehension in uptake.

Indeed, when settlement processes appear prolonged, customers interpret any points of friction as unwillingness rather than complexity, reinforcing longstanding scepticism toward insurance as an institution. This perception persists even as payout volumes rise.

A recurring theme in the discussions spotlighted the widening gap between innovation at the front end and modernisation at the back end. Distribution has evolved quickly through digital platforms, mobile integration and embedded insurance products.

Claims processes, by contrast, often remain dependent on fragmented documentation, manual verification and multi-party coordination. Severally, customers encounter a modern purchasing experience followed by a settlement process that feels comparatively slow. The consequence of this disparity is reputational because delays are interpreted as resistance to payment and not just evidence of procedural safeguards.

Meanwhile, recent technological advancements are offering partial solutions, with automation, digital claims submission and analytics improving efficiency and fraud detection.

Some insurers and reinsurers have reduced settlement timelines through integrated systems and data-driven verification. But it is broadly acknowledged that speed alone does not resolve credibility challenges, with customers increasingly demanding explanation alongside resolution. The ability to understand why a claim outcome was reached often matters as much as how quickly it is delivered.

Professional capacity is another constraint that is receiving renewed attention. Claims handling now requires multidisciplinary expertise spanning legal interpretation, medical assessment, actuarial evaluation and customer engagement. Inconsistent professional standards across the value chain introduce variability that customers perceive as unfairness.

As such, investment in continuous professional development is becoming an economic imperative rather than a technical preference.

Yet perhaps the most significant shift in tone concerns shared responsibility. Claims outcomes depend on a network that extends beyond insurers to brokers, assessors, healthcare providers, repair networks and regulators.

Misalignment across these actors frequently produces delays that appear, from the customer’s perspective, indistinguishable from institutional failure. Improving claims performance may, therefore, require ecosystem coordination as much as organisational reform.

Mr Omoro is Head of Claims, Minet Kenya