Heritage Insurance receives rating upgrade

Heritage Insurance has been rated highly following an upgrade in rating on claims paying ability by South African-based Global Credit Ratings (GCR), positioning the business as stable.

GCR noted in its rating notification that the upgrade to AA- from A+ reflects a strengthening in risk adjusted capitalisation to a very strong level, noting that the insurance company has very high paying ability relative to other insurers in Kenya.

Heritage Insurance Managing Director Godfrey Kioi says the new rating asserts the company’s position in the market as a reliable insurance partner.

“Our focus is in honouring the trust clients place in us by taking up our insurance products. Indeed, it is my hope that this rating inspires confidence in our claims payment capacity. Presently our claim payment turnaround time is three days of a customer logging a claim with us,” said kioi.

GCR notes that the new rating which runs up to June 2018 is expected to be sustained going forward underpinned by robust growth in the capital base with  capitalisation expected to be sustained at very strong levels over the rating horizon, given the alignment of capital management and dividend policies with risk based capitalization targets.

It further expects earnings capacity to be maintained within a strong range, supported by robust underwriting systems.

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“Our efficiency in claims payment starts right from the underwriting process. For instance, we’ve put strong measures to counter fraudulent claims by ensuring our underwriting process is unbending to unwarrantable risks,” added Kioi.

According to the report, Heritage Kenya displays a healthy business profile, underpinned by moderate competitive positioning and fairly well diversified earnings, to which Kioi attributes prudent reserves allocation practice in the company.

“Premiums collection remains a challenge for many insurers in Kenya, but this has not affected our financial stability, that’s why we’re able to meet our claims obligations with utmost efficiency,” said Kioi.

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