The insurance industry grew by 6.5per cent in the year ended 31 December 2017 compared to a growth of 13.4per cent recorded in 2016. This is according to a report released today by the Association of Kenya Insurers.

The report notes that insurance premium grew slightly to Ksh209 billion in 2017 from Ksh197billion in 2016. The net claims paid out to policy holders was Ksh99.13billion compared to Ksh85.41billion in 2016.

Insurance penetration, which is calculated by dividing gross insurance premium by the GDP, was at 2.71per cent compared to 2.75per cent in 2016.

Marine insurance recorded the highest growth at 41.56per cent. This growth was mainly buoyed by the implementation of the government directive to locally insure all marine cargo starting 1 January 2017 (See the 2018 Half Year Performance).

Engineering Insurance recorded the second highest growth at 15.84per cent. This insurance class covers construction, installation and erection projects, machines and equipment as well as third party liabilities. This growth can be attributed to the expansion of infrastructural projects in the country.

Agriculture insurance also performed well with an increase in gross written premium to Ksh822.7million in 2017 compared to Ksh548million in 2016. Livestock insurance accounted for 63.13per cent of this premium. Government premium subsidies for crop and livestock insurance for the year 2017 was Ksh157million and this figure is expected to increase in 2018.

Personal Accident (-9.08per cent), Motor Commercial (-3.33per cent) and Medical insurance (-0.71per cent ) recorded negative growth rates during the year under review. Medical insurance has been one of the fastest growing classes since 2013. The medical claims increased by 14.64percent to Ksh20.56billion in 2017 compared to Ksh17.94billion in 2016. Conversely, the loss recorded in 2017 was Ksh514million compared to Ksh782million in 2016, a slight improvement in overall performance.

Life insurance business made up 40percent of the total premium written by the industry at Ksh83.65Billion. In the developed markets, life insurance forms the larger portion of industry premiums. Life insurance growth has almost doubled over the last five years from Ksh44billion to the current Ksh83.65billion.

Deposit administration or pension schemes was the best performing life insurance category at 35percent followed by Group life at 29.75perent. Other categories were ordinary life and Investment/unit linked products respectively.