The Insurance regulatory Authority (IRA) has declined to renew licenses for three insurance companies. UAP Life Assurance, Capex Life Assurance and Xplico Insurance were not put on this years'  list of licencees with the regulator citing breach of regulatory requirements as the reason.

UAP and Capex both confirmed that they had been excluded from the list and that they had regulatory issues to work out with IRA. The sector regulator renews licenses for Insurance companies and brokers yearly. IRA has the power to extend licenses for institutions who have not met regulatory requirements for a period of time defined by the regulator.

The IRA ensure companies comply with a number of regulatory requirements including solvency thresholds and minimum capital balance. The requires that an insurance firm's assets should be more than 20 per cent of its liabilities.

Companies involved in Life Insurance business, like UAP  are required to have a minimum capital base of Kshs 150 million while those in general business should have a capital base of Kshs 300 million.

Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) report of 2010 shows that UAP had a market share of 2.1 percent in Life business while Capex had 0.1 per cent. UAP had 5 per cent of gross premiums totaling Kshs 79.1 billion with Capex having 0.017  per cent .

Blue Shield Insurance company which is now under statutory management was one of the companies whose license was not renewed in 2011. Blue Shield joined a list of public service vehicle underwriter to collapse in a span of two decades.

View the list of licensed insurance firms here.

(Details courtesy of  Business Daily)