By MAIMBOLWA  MULIKELELA –
PENSIONS and Insurance Authority (PIA) has started working on the development of regulations on micro-insurance and health insurance.
PIA registrar Martin Libinga said they would soon come up with the regulations on micro-insurance and health insurance.
Mr Libinga said the Insurance Bill and Pensions Scheme Regulation Bill were currently being finalised at the Ministry of Justice, which would have some provisions that support micro insurance.
“Currently the regulations are at the Ministry of Justice and we are hoping that they will engage us in order to prepare those regulations for onward submission to Parliament,” he said.
In 2010 the amendments started with a view to modernising and harmonising those pieces of legislation with other Acts in the financial sector.
Mr Libinga said the industry awaited new provisions in the Act, soon to be enacted, which would support the growth that has occurred over years.
He said the insurance industry had continued to grow with gross written premium for the period ended December 2014 to slightly more than K1.5 billion from K1,527 million recorded the previous month.
“In terms of the insurance industry we have seen growth in gross written premium of slightly over K1.5 billion by December 31, 2014 and have seen a number of new entrance that have come on boardand most of them largely foreign companies,” Mr Libinga said.
There was a lot of pressure in competition among the industry players and once the minimum capital requirement is adjusted by the Ministry of Finance there would be a balance.
“The industry players will be required to put in more money in their operations and it will give security to policy holders, and when that happens there will be more security and stability in the industry and the industry itself,” Mr Libinga said.
This will enable the insurance industry to handle more risky business such as those in the mining industry that require more financial muscle.
Mr Libinga said the authority had been encouraging insurance companies to be more innovative in terms of their insurance products so that they could be able to capture the interests of the clients.