Sammy Makove, IRA chief executive addresses stakeholders at a past meeting in Nairobi. The Insurance Regulatory Authority has fined APA Insurance Sh200,000 for signing up unlicensed brokers to sell the firm’s products. PHOTO | ANN KAMONI |
What you need to know:
The insurance markets regulator established that APA Insurance last year used unlicensed agents to sell, solicit and negotiate its policy covers in contravention of the law.
Corporate Insurance, First Assurance and Monarch Insurance were warned by IRA in the same report to stop undercutting their rivals — charging lower than the approved minimum premiums for insurance policies.
APA is ranked Kenya’s sixth largest insurance firm controlling premiums totalling Sh2.7 billion as at March 2014, which gives it a market share of 6.3 per cent.
The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) has fined APA Insurance Sh200,000 for signing up unlicensed brokers to sell the firm’s products.
The insurance markets regulator established that APA Insurance last year used unlicensed agents to sell, solicit and negotiate its policy covers in contravention of the law.
“A penalty of Sh200,000 was imposed on the insurer (APA) for dealing with unlicensed insurance agents,” said Sammy Makove, IRA chief executive in the regulator’s 2013 annual report.
The amount, which is prescribed in law, pales in comparison to APA’s total asset base of Sh13.2 billion as at December 2013. According to the Insurance Act, it is an offence for an underwriter to engage brokers who have not been registered by the IRA.
APA now joins the bad books of the regulator as companies that have been penalised for failing to comply with statutory laws and regulations.
Corporate Insurance, First Assurance and Monarch Insurance were warned by IRA in the same report to stop undercutting their rivals — charging lower than the approved minimum premiums for insurance policies.
APA is ranked Kenya’s sixth largest insurance firm controlling premiums totalling Sh2.7 billion as at March 2014, which gives it a market share of 6.3 per cent.
APA was formed in 2003 after the merger of the general businesses of Apollo Insurance and Pan Africa General Insurance. The firm’s net profit nearly tripled to 492.5 million in the period to December compared to Sh185.6 million a year earlier despite a surge in claims.
APA Insurance paid Sh1.97 billion as compensation to the Kenya Airports Authority for the inferno that gutted the international terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
The firm owns a 34 per cent stake in Reliance Insurance Tanzania and 40 per cent shareholding in Gordon Court Ltd.
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