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Nairobi County bags 72.8pc of 2016 insurance premiums

kiptum

Acting CEO of the Insurance Regulatory Authority Godfrey Kiptum (right) and Daniel Kiange, manager trade facilitation at Kentrade, address journalists after a marine cargo insurance forum in Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Nairobi consolidated its place as the county with the highest percentage of insurance premiums despite a slight drop in 2016, new data by the industry regulator shows.

The county accounted for 72.8 per cent of all premiums written in 2016, falling from 80.4 per reported in 2015, the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) said in its 2016 annual report.

Nairobi recorded Sh135 billion in premiums written in 2016, up from Sh128 billion. The county had Sh94 billion in premiums written in 2014.

The county was followed by Mombasa at 5.1 per cent (Sh9 billion), Kiambu at 2.4 per cent (Sh4.4 billion), and Nakuru at 2.2 per cent (Sh4.2 billion).

Acting IRA chief executive and Commissioner of Insurance Geoffrey Kiptum said the distribution indicates the degree of insurance awareness, the level of investments and population factors in the counties.

READ: Focus on insurance firms as 2016 complaints double

In the period under review, insurance penetration remained less than one per cent in counties such as North Eastern, Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.

Since 2014, insurers have been reporting premiums per county with the aim of identifying gaps, opportunities and trends.

Mr Kiptum said IRA will train insurance agents at the country level.

“The training is one of the ways through which the authority develops the industry while also enhancing accessibility to insurance services,” he said. In 2016, gross written premiums increased by 13 per cent from Sh174.06 billion reported in 2015.