The number claims declined by insurance companies in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 85 per cent from 41 to 76, a new report by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) indicates.
- •During the period, the claims declined amounts increased by 71.2 per cent from KES 23.54 million to KES 40.30 million.
- •The number of non-liability claims declined, increased by 141.8 per cent from 5,258 to 12,715 while the amounts decreased by 23.0 per cent from KES 352.92 million to KES 271.77 million.
- •During the period under review, the number of claims declined by the long-term insurers decreased by 18.2 per cent from 242 to 198 while the amounts decreased by 45.8 per cent from KES 108.63 million to KES 58.86 million.
“In Q1 2024, the number of general liability claims closed as no claims decreased by 74.0 per cent from 5,891 to 1,530 while the amounts decreased by 57.2 per cent from 821.05 million to KES 351.55 million. The number of non-liability claims closed as no claims decreased by 63.0 per cent from 16,043 to 5,941 while the amounts increased by 8.3 per cent from KES 1.92 billion to KES 2.08 billion. During the same period the number of claims closed as no claims under long-term insurance business decreased by 51.1 per cent from 423 to 207 while the amounts increased by 4.6 per cent from KES 70.53 million to KES 73.76 million,” the IRA said.
The Insurance Industry Quarterly Claims Statistics for the Period January – March 2024 shows an increase in the amount paid to general liability claims in the first quarter of 2024 from Ksh37.55 billion in Q4 2023 to Ksh37.61 billion. This is despite a drop in total actionable claims in Q1 2024 for general liability which the regulator say were 159, 273 compared to Q4 2023 claims put at 163,317. Total number of claims actionable is the summation of the number of claims paid, claims declined, claims closed as no claims, and claims outstanding at the end of the quarter.
IRA says 3,663,926 claims amounting to KES 61.69 billion were reported for general non-liability claims, an increase in number and amount from 3,167,116 claims worth KES 57.74 billion reported in Q4 2023. Long-term actionable claims in Q1 2024 were 154,153 claims amounting to KES 30.59 billion an increase in number but a decrease in amount from 147,053 claims amounting to KES 30.70 billion reported in Q4 2023.
Both long-term and general insurance business underwriters are required to submit monthly summary of claims returns to IRA through the electronic regulatory system (ERS).
At the time of preparation of this report, all the insurers had submitted their monthly summary of claims returns for the first quarter of 2024 except for Trident Insurance Company Limited whose data was excluded due to non-submission of the returns for the months in the quarter.
