dc.description.abstract | The Kenyan insurance industry has experienced regulatory setback in the recent past.
Over the past few years, the industry experienced rampant cases of unethical
competition, low market capitalization, a drop in the level of professionalism and the
winding up of insurance companies as result of mismanagement. This study was
therefore designed to identify factors considered as problems and emerging challenges
in the regulation of the insurance industry in Kenya.
The study establishes that both problems within the office of commissioner of
insurance and other constraints and challenges concerning the industry in general
have constrained the regulation of the insurance industry. In the office of
commissioner of insurance constraints identified are: Inadequate analysis and slow
response to remedy financially weak insurers, Lack of autonomy of action and
freedom from interference by political and other groupings and Inability to have a
dynamic influence in the evolution of the insurance industry.
The study also identified the following constraints not specific to the commissioners
office: Low levels of public awareness of insurance matters, underhand dealings in
the conduct of operations at the commissioners' office, competition amongst some
players in the insurance industry which reduce synergies in regulation, restricted
scope of operation of the commissioners office, lack of legal recognition of other
players in the insurance industry including AKl and the Insurance institute of Kenya
(IlK).
The conclusion is that an integrated approach encompassing both the cor office and
other players in the industry at large should be employed to contain the existing
constraints and meet emerging challenges in the regulation of the insurance industry.
This study recommends that the cor office be actively involved in the education of
the public on insurance matters, that the terms and conditions of the staff in the office
be improved, that the office should have an active research arm to continually analyze
emerging regulatory challenges and give recommendations. Others include the
amendment of the insurance Act to create an independent and autonomous authority
to manage the affairs of the insurance industry and the introduction of self-regulation
in the industry. | en_US |