Articles

Supervision

IRA has the primary responsibility for supervising the insurance industry. Supervision entails the enforcement of rules and standards guiding the conduct of insurance business in Kenya. This is done mainly through surveillance and compliance sections of the Technical Division.

Our approach to insurance supervision is normally through off-site and on-site inspections. To gain deeper insights, IRA undertakes due diligence of the companies through on-site inspections and surveillance by visiting company offices. In such situations, companies present documents required by IRA for inspection on demand. The aim of such inspections is ascertain compliance levels with regulations in order to ascertain financial and economic status of the companies or intermediaries. In addition, not only are insurers and reinsurers expected to submit accounts for public scrutiny and information but also submit reports to IRA for inspection as well as for statistical and policy purposes.

Our approach to supervision is evolving to be in tandem with developments in the industry locally, regionally and internationally through benchmarking. It is therefore more intensive and intrusive. The purpose is to ensure that the decisions taken by insurance/re-insurance companies and intermediaries do not pose risks to our statutory objectives.