Insurance Agents Race to Beat September Deadline for Renewal

Insurance agents are racing to beat the September 30, 2021 deadline set by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) for renewal of registration.

Those who fail to comply face stiff repercussions. If it is established upon inspection of an insurance company that they are  dealing with or have dealt with an insurance agent or agency that is not licensed, the insurance company will be liable to pay a penalty of KES 200,000 for every established case in line with the provisions of Section 67D of the Insurance Act.

Names of the registered members of the insurance industry for the year 2022 shall be posted on the regulator’s website. Notably, agents were advised to decide on the name they plan to trade with during the year of registration before they apply for 2022 license as the IRA no longer endorses licenses.

In addition, a Principal Officer is only allowed to represent one insurance entity at any particular time. 

Insurance Agents will need to access the IRA Online Portal www.ira.go.ke in order to apply for renewal of registration as well as update their profile where necessary.

New applicants are required to pay KES 1,000 being registration fees. They can apply at any time of the year without being subjected to a penalty. Existing agents are required to pay renewal fee of KES.1,000 and where the application is submitted after the deadline date of 30th September, 2021 or where the application is rejected for incompleteness, a penalty of KES.1,000 shall be payable in addition to the renewal fee.

Requirements for Registration for Insurance Agents

• National (ID) or Passport of applicant.
• The minimum professional qualification requirements include COP or ECOP Certificate or COP exemption certificate issued by the College of Insurance or Higher Insurance qualifications Diploma in Insurance, Bachelor of Commerce (Insurance Option), and Chartered Insurance Institute among others are also acceptable.
• Certificate of Incorporation or Registration of Business Names (in case of corporate agents).
• Proof of payment of registration fees including banking slips or MPESA transaction reference numbers.

Procedure for Registration for Existing Users and First-Time Applicants

For Existing Users 

• Agents should log onto www.online.ira.go.ke in order to access the Agents Online Portal.
• Agents MUST select the year of registration as “2022″ otherwise, the system will process registration for 2021. This will necessitate applying afresh for the 2022 registration at an extra fee.
• For both the Username and Password, agents should use their National Identification (ID) numbers or Passport numbers depending on the document that was used to create agent profile.

For New/First time applicants

• To access the portal, the agents should visit www.online.ira.go.ke ii. Click on the link Online Services
• Click on the link Agents Online Portal iv. Click on the link Create an Account v. Fill in the “Online User Profile” appropriately and attach the relevant  documents.
• Save the User Profile by clicking on the “Save Profile” button at the  bottom of that page. Once you Save Profile, the browser window will return to the “Home Page”.
• Now log in as an Existing User
• Select the year of registration as “2022
• Insert the Username: This is the National ID number or Passport Number of the applicant if the Agent is applying as an individual or the principal officer’s National ID number or Passport Number if the applicant is not an individual agent.
• Insert the Password: This is also the National ID number or Passport Number of the applicant if the Agent is applying as an individual or the principal officer’s National ID number or Passport Number if the applicant is not an individual.
• Upon logging into the account, click the link, “Apply for Registration” viii. To change particulars in your profile, click on Change Particulars. Agents MUST provide accurate postal or email addresses for ease of communication with the Authority.
• Tracking your application: Applicants will be able to self-track in order to monitor the progress made by the Authority towards their registration. To do so, agents should click on “Track Status”, on the “Historical Submitted Applications“window.
• Viewing, Downloading and Printing license: The applicant will be able to the processed license for the purpose of self-print. To do so, the agent should click on “view license“. 

All payments shall be in either of the following modes: 

MPESA Paybill 

IRA Paybill No. 830300 for the payment of registration fee and/or penalty. Please use the agent‘s registration number as the account number. Note to add the year of registration immediately after the registration number e.g. IRA/05/XXXXX/2022. Please enter the Mpesa transaction reference details at the appropriate section of the Portal. 

Bank deposit or direct transfers to: Kenya Commercial Bank Limited

Bank Account Name : Insurance Regulatory Authority

Account Number :   1202647413

Branch: Capital Hill

Branch Code: 201

Bank Code: 01

Swift Code: KCBLKENX 

The deposit slip shall be scanned and submitted together with the application as an attachment. 

An insurer may make consolidated payment for registration of its agents and forward the schedule the agents for whom the payment has been made. 

Take note that agents who fail to renew their licenses for two (2) consecutive years will be deregistered.