Reinsurers Need To Work Together To Make Market Growth Reality – Karekezi

Group CEO and Managing Director, Africa Re, Mr. Corneille Karekezi

Africa’s reinsurers are competing for too small a pie and should instead work together to grow the overall market, according to Corneille Karekezi, Group CEO and managing director of Africa Re.

Speaking at the African Insurance Organisation’s Reinsurance Forum in Kigali, Mr Karekezi urged reinsurers to work together with insurers and governments to help grow the African insurance market.

He pointed to the example of South Korea, where the reinsurer has almost four times the premium of the whole African reinsurance market.

There are plenty of opportunities to grow the market, he said. “We believe that Africa has a lot of potentials and we should not see low penetration rates as a curse, but as an opportunity.” Looking in-depth at the non-life insurance market, he said 82% of premiums are collected on motor, accident and fire, leaving all the speciality lines with just 18% of the total.

In particular, he pointed to cyber insurance, which remains the smallest of the speciality markets but which, he believes, has a huge opportunity for growth.

His words were echoed by Jean Aymar Sahe, head of non-property business, Munich Re, who pointed out that in 1975, just 17% of the corporate wealth was linked to digital but by 2020, intangible assets accounted for 90% of corporate assets.

Mr Karekezi said huge opportunities are also set to emerge from the developing African Continental Free Trade Agreement, but insurers need to make sure they work together to maximise those opportunities.

Source: https://afahpublishing.com/