Africa Re CEO highlights conditional business and market resilience growth

Corneille Karekeji, Group Managing Director and CEO of African Reinsurance Corp (Africa Re), said the voluntary business contributed significantly to Africa Re’s performance and was showing solid growth. Ta.

In an interview with AM Best, Kalekezi (pictured) highlighted Afrika Re’s strong position in the broader reinsurance market, despite its limited exposure to the US market.

Mr. Karekezi noted that globally, the reinsurance market is showing improvement, with key indicators turning favorable for the first time in five years.

“Turning the corner is great news for all our efforts and many of our social services, including protecting, providing security, and supporting economic growth and resilience,” Karakeji said.

He cited increased demand for products that address natural disasters, climate risks and new cybersecurity needs. He added that Afrika Re’s recovery from losses in 2022 strengthens its financial position and supports the company’s objective to protect economies around the world and enable continued growth. .

Africa Re achieved over $1 billion in gross written premiums this year. This is a milestone due to the company’s diverse portfolio. Mr Karekeji said African Re’s resilience comes from spreading its risk across the continent’s 54 countries, allowing currency depreciation in large economies such as Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt to be offset by currency appreciation in other regions. .

“You also need the international business element, which is doing well in terms of sales because of the tough market that we are in. So they are the drivers. Diversification on the continent and international Business growth,” Karakeji said.

Regarding diversification by geography and business sector, Mr. Karekezi emphasized that Afrikali is focused on businesses written and settled in US dollars, primarily in sectors such as oil and infrastructure.

“You need to see really strong growth in any business. This was very good for African Re in 2023,” he said.

In discussing the growing risk of natural disasters in Africa, Mr. Karekezi noted the capital and capacity challenges in modeling risk. He noted that reinsurance has consistently supported African insurance companies with prompt response to claims.

“We also have strong support from other insurance companies,” he said. “The main issue remains capital and modeling capacity. However, we have responded every time countries have developed such plans, such as Morocco and other countries. One example is the Moroccan earthquake, which is now in its first year.

Kalekezi said the main limitations are on the demand side rather than the supply side, as many African countries are still developing frameworks to effectively utilize such reinsurance systems.

“I would say the speed of implementation and speed to market has been quite slow. We hope to see more and more demand so that we can respond by putting more capital to support these products. ” he said.

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