Kenindia Assurance plans to develop digital distribution means to reach the uninsured and youthful populations to boost profits by 20 percent in 2019.
A sector report by AIB Capital showed that the growth in the insurance industry in Kenya is still underpinned by underinsurance and low insurance uptake, with the 2018 overall insurance penetration in Kenya standing at 3%.
James Kingóri Macharia, the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, said that Kenindia has already began the development of a digital platform that will provide consumers with open access to unbiased insurance information.
“We are looking at a digital system that will provide our current and potential customers tailor-made advice with instant quotes to enable a faster decision making process. This system will help those self-directed consumers make their own insurance purchases,” said Macharia.
Macharia added that Kenindia’s digital system will improve and automate the back-end hastening the underwriting turnaround time on fully underwritten products such as life and disability.
“The traditional brick-and-mortar is not working for the younger consumers and it is up to us the insurers to explore new distribution channels to create awareness. We want to empower our customers to make informed decisions by providing relevant content through a platform they already use. The younger consumers have great expectation on insurance companies to be transparent about their dealings,” said Macharia.
Currently, Kenya insurance penetration is less than three percent with experts expecting it to grow to $2.2 billion in 2019. For the year 2018, Kenindia Assurance recorded an 11.5% increase in its interest payable on retirement funds which is credited to strong growth in written premium, investment income, and a material uplift in new business growth.
Overall, the Kenindia’s net investment income increased by 8.56% from Kshs 3.924 billion to Kshs 4.260 billion with the net investment income of Life Business increasing by 10:59% from Kshs 3.419 billion in 2017 to Kshs 3.781 billion in 2018.
Celebrating 40 years since inception, Kenindia intends to increase its customer base to 2 million customers by 2020 and to roll out innovative channels in its quest to maintain and grow its market leadership. Under its new strategic direction, Kenindia also seeks to achieve a customer satisfaction index of 95 per cent matched by customer retention of 95 per cent in the short term.
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