• Pension and insurance industries recorded marginal growth in 2020 largely due to Covid-19.
• Pension industry net assets stood at K8.86 billion as at December 2020 compared to K7.96 billion in 2019.
• Net assets in the insurance industry increased by 56.88% from K762.38 million in the third quarter of 2019.

Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) says the Pension and insurance industries has not been spared from the negative effects of Covid-19 as it recorded marginal growth last year.
Authority Acting Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Tresford Chiyavula disclosed in a statement to Money FM News that as at December 2020, the pension industry net assets stood at K8.86 billion compared to K7.96 billion in 2019, representing an increase of 11.3%.
Mr. Chiyavula said Pension investment income for the year ending December 2020 stood at K1, 186.94 million compared to K805.30 million in 2019 translating into an upsurge of 47.4%.
He added that during the period under review, total pension scheme membership reduced to 111,494 from 111,959 as at 31st December, 2019 indicating a reduction of 0.42%, while Active members stood at 92,454 representing 82% of the total membership, whereas deferred members stood at 5,628 representing 5% of the total membership during the period under review.
“The remaining 15,307 or 13% represented pensioners. In terms of industry players, there were 244 pension schemes, 6 fund administrators, and 8 fund managers as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020,” Mr. Chiyavula said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chiyavula revealed that the combined Gross Written Premiums (GWP) for both the long term and general insurance business contracted by 13% to K1, 150 million as at 30th September 2020 from K1, 326 million in the corresponding quarter of 2019.
He added that the GWP for the general Insurance was K720 million, while long-term insurance contributed K430 million.
The significant decrease to the long-term insurance business, which largely arose due to defaults in servicing of insurance policies, was mainly attributed to the negative effects of Covid-19 on the economy.
“Net assets in the insurance industry increased by 56.88% from K762.38 million in the third quarter of 2019 to K1, 196 million at the end of the third quarter of 2020. The increase was largely attributed to assets introduced by insurance entities to meet solvency requirements. The Pensions and Insurance industries were not spared from the negative effect arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“The pension contributions arrears increased and some insurance classes such as life and travel insurance did not perform to expectations. Further, the Authority issued Covid-19 guidelines to industry aimed at protecting pension scheme members and insurance policyholders and also promoting stability in the two industries,” he stated.
And Mr. Chiyavula said the Authority will continue to monitor and scrutinize the operations of all licensed entities focusing on prudential supervision and market conduct in order to protect the interests of insurance policyholders and pension scheme members, further reiterating that it will act decisively on misconduct in the industry.
“The Authority is cautioning unlicensed entities including, insurance companies, brokers and agents to desist from selling insurance policies as it is illegal to engage in or transact in insurance business without a valid license issued by the Registrar of Pensions and Insurance as doing so contravenes sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Insurance Act No. 27 of 1997 (as amended by Act No. 26 of 2005). The Authority would also like to remind the public to only deal with licensed entities,” Mr. Chiyavula warned.