Microinsurance – with premiums starting at around $1.30 per month – is gaining traction as part of the growth of a wider Kenyan insurance industry serving everyday customers and major corporate clients. As competition bubbles up and disruptive technology is deployed, bringing structure to the existing informal market, one of the world’s biggest insurance firms has announced a major regional partnership. German insurance giant Allianz signed an agreement to establish a strategic partnership with Nairobi-based Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL), East Africa’s largest insurance group. The deal covers the general insurance business – also known as the property and casualty (P&C) insurance segment – with Allianz acquiring controlling stakes for $100m in Jubilee’s businesses in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as the short-term insurance segments in Burundi and Mauritius.
East Africa’s economies have proven resilient during Covid, and the insurance market is forecast to expand with population growth expected to double by 2050. Combined with rapid smartphone and mobile money penetration, a ripening digital environment has prompted the firm to cast its net further. Allianz’s venture deeper into East Africa comes after it slimmed down operations in West Africa due to unfavorable regulatory frameworks hampering growth in its Francophone subsidiaries. Allianz retains a strong foothold in Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria, where it acquired 99.3% of Nigerian insurer Ensure Insurance in 2018, and invested $96.6m in digital micro insurer BIMA, which operates in numerous markets. The deal will mean increased digitalization for the joint venture and growth in big data and analytics.