Zep-Re targets insurance chiefs with academy to hone their skills
Zep-Re CEO Rajni Varia with IRA chief executive Sammy Makove. PHOTO/COURTESY
Regional reinsurance company Zep–Re is targeting top executives with a training academy to enhance their skills.
The Zep-Re Academy, established in collaboration with the College of Insurance will train them on technical aspects of reinsurance management to address an existing skills gap.
The academy will operate from Zep-Re offices in Upper Hill, at the College of Insurance and in the regional markets that the reinsurance company operates in.
“Though the fundamentals of the insurance and reinsurance industry remain the same, the landscape is ever changing, with new risks that hitherto were not prevalent. Terrorism risk, for instance, has become ever-present and therefore, we as an industry have to find ways of mitigating this risk for our clients,” Zep-Re chief executive officer Rajni Varia said.
Mr Varia said that based on the firm’s experience they want to keep pursuing the growth and expansion of the insurance industry.
The Nairobi-headquatered firm underwrites life and non-life reinsurance risks primarily in Kenya.
The company also provides property, casualty, motor, marine, aviation, life, and medical insurance products. It also operates in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Sudan.
Kenya has only three reinsurance companies under the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) including Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re), East Africa Reinsurance Company Limited and Continental Reinsurance Company Limited.
Kenya Re, the oldest reinsurer in eastern and central Africa gets 20 per cent of all Kenyan insurance business.
Foreign reinsurance companies and reinsurance brokers operating liaison offices in Kenya include Ghana Reinsurance Company; Munich Reinsurance Company; J.B Boda Reinsurance Broker and Afro Asia Reinsurance Broker.
The Zep-Re, which also operates as PTA Reinsurance Company, is one of the two regional reinsurance organisations that operate under the various regional charters.
The PTA Reinsurance Company receive mandatory cessions of 10per cent and Africa Reinsurance Company receives five per cent from the Kenyan insurers.
The IRA Commissioner of Insurance Sammy Makove said there is a need to enhance insurance training as part of the insurance penetration enhancing roadmap.
“Insurance penetration in the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) and indeed the rest of Africa is far less than satisfactory with the exception of a few countries. We need to change this if the industry is to find traction,” Mr Makove said.
Kenya’s insurance penetration stands at 2.8 per cent while Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania stands 1.6 per cent, one per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.
The IRA recently introduce new minimum capital requirements on reinsurance companies or risk-based capital as determined by the Authority from time to time; or 20 per cent of the net earned premium of the preceding financial year.
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