Britam Holdings widened its lead in the life insurance business and climbed to second place in the general underwriting business in the half year ended June 2024, piling pressure on its rivals.
Latest data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows that Britam increased its general insurance premiums by Sh7.06 billion to Sh29.54 billion, while its life insurance premiums rose by Sh3.71 billion to Sh9.1 billion.
IRA data shows that the increased premiums boosted Britam Life's market share to 25.1 percent of the industry with premiums of Sh93.88 billion. This was an increase from 21.4 percent to maintain Britam as the top insurer in the business, which includes pensions, deposit administration, life assurance and investments.
During the period under review, Britam General, which insures short-term risks such as medical, motor, theft and fire, saw its market share rise to 9.7 percent of the industry's Sh117.67 billion in premiums from 7.2 percent in the previous comparable period.
Market share in the insurance business refers to the amount of gross premium income underwritten by a given player compared to the industry’s total premiums.
The IRA data shows that Britam’s gain in market share came at a time when many of its top competitors in the top spots were marginally increasing or losing their market share.
For example, Britam's 3.7 percentage point gain in the life business, which includes pensions, deposit administration, life assurance and investments, came at a time when its closest rival, Jubilee Insurance, increased its share from 11.4 percent to 13.7 percent, pushing ICEA Lion Life into second place.
ICEA Life's share fell to 13.4 percent from 17.5 percent as Pioneer's share rose to seven percent from 1.5 percent. Kenindia's share rose to 5.5 percent from five percent, bringing the top five life insurers' combined share to 64.8 percent from 56.8 percent.
Britam General's gain of 2.5 percentage points in the short-term insurance business saw it overtake CIC General, APA General and GA General to move into second place, beaten only by Old Mutual General, whose stake rose to 10 percent from 9.3 percent in a similar period in 2023.
In general insurance, Britam's stake rose during the period when the share of the top five insurers fell from 45.7 percent to 42.3 percent, showing that some of the top insurers marginally increased their stakes or ceded them to smaller players.
For example, CIC increased its share of the general insurance business by one percentage point to 8.8 percent, while APA's share fell by a similar margin and GA's share fell from nine percent to 8.5 percent.
“The remaining 20 companies controlled 35.2 percent of the market indicating that the Kenyan long-term insurance segment is dominated by a few players,” said IRA.
Insurers’ net profit for the half-year ended June 2024 rose 2.3 times to Sh15.85 billion from Sh6.93 billion, helped by increased investment income that more than compensated for underwriting losses.
