Over the years, Kenya's insurance industry has continued to endear itself to the existing and potential customers through new products and a significant improvement on its service delivery platforms, guaranteeing consumers of world-class services delivery.

The creation of the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) to replace the office of the Commissioner of Insurance under the Ministry of Finance has not only instilled a sense of confidence in the regulatory framework in the industry but has also injected new approaches to ethics, management and growth of the insurance investments in Kenya.

Likewise, efforts made by majority of insurance industry operators to embolden the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) and the Association of Insurance Brokers in Kenya (AIBK) are steadily paying off with more consumers angling to take-up the services. Practitioners in the industry are also enhancing the quality of their products and services as well as the market penetration strategies.

That the new initiatives are welcome is no longer in doubt. Insurers are not only keen on reclaiming the rightful image of the industry but are further concerned with vilifying and alienating, rogue practitioners who have helped plant the seed of distrust that continues to slow penetration of insurance services in the country.

From the AKI, IRA and the AIBK to the insurance underwriters, experts in insurance are embracing a new strategy that is aimed at ensuring the industry commands the respect they deserve and that more customers are taking up the services and are also becoming critical champions to drive insurance growth so as to counter the erstwhile, limiting perceptions that insurers are out to fleece the public with little or no likelihood of making a return from the lucrative covers offered.

In consultation with the regulator, agents' body and member associations, the insurance firms are developing new products that are not only friendly to consumers but which pioneers service delivery in an under-exploited market category

The Industry is regulated by the Insurance Act. Cap 487 which is currently under review. The Insurance Amendment Act, 2006 brought the Insurance Regulatory Authority to life. Certain sections of the Insurance Act, Cap 487 were amended effective Ist May, 2007 to allow for the Conversion of the Department of Insurance into an autonomous Insurance Regulatory Authority. Click Herefor a copy of the Insurance Act.