Kenya’s five listed insurers closed 2025 on a weaker note than the industry has grown used to. Core earnings per share fell 4.9% across the sector on a weighted basis, reversing the 52.3% growth recorded in 2024. Behind that swing sits a familiar culprit: costs grew faster than revenue could absorb them.
Cytonn Investments put it plainly: “The decline in earnings was largely weighed down by the increase in the expense ratio to 63.3% in FY’2025, from 45.0% in FY’2024.”
CIC Insurance Group and Liberty Kenya bore the brunt of that shift, with core EPS dropping 82.0% and 51.9% respectively.
Table 1: Listed Insurance Sector FY2025 Earnings and Growth Metrics
| Insurer | Core EPS Growth | Insurance Revenue Growth | Claims Growth | Loss Ratio | Expense Ratio | Combined Ratio | ROaE | ROaA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanlam | 2.4% | (3.2%) | (11.4%) | 73.5% | 40.0% | 113.5% | 26.2% | 2.2% |
| Liberty | (51.9%) | (55.1%) | 23.8% | 72.4% | 73.1% | 145.5% | 6.4% | 1.4% |
| Jubilee Insurance | 17.6% | 16.5% | 11.9% | 89.9% | 61.0% | 150.8% | 10.4% | 2.2% |
| Britam | 10.0% | 10.9% | (8.5%) | 74.1% | 50.4% | 124.5% | 18.0% | 1.2% |
| CIC | (82.0%) | 11.8% | (9.1%) | 95.8% | 104.4% | 200.2% | 4.5% | 1.3% |
| FY’2025 Weighted Average | (4.9%) | 8.8% | 0.4% | 82.7% | 63.3% | 146.0% | 12.7% | 1.6% |
| FY’2024 Weighted Average | 52.3% | 32.3% | 7.0% | 82.3% | 45.0% | 127.3% | 9.0% | 1.9% |
Source: Cytonn Investments. FY’2025 figures market cap weighted as at 07/10/2026; FY’2024 figures as at 07/11/2025.
CIC’s own results confirm the scale of the pressure. Profit for the year fell to KSh 513.8 million from KSh 2.85 billion in 2024, even as insurance revenue climbed 12% to KSh 29.5 billion. The gap between top line growth and bottom line collapse traces back to the investment book, which dropped from KSh 3.8 billion to KSh 1.6 billion, a swing the company has partly offset by raising KSh 1.8 billion through land sales to shore up its capital position ahead of tighter risk based supervision rules.
Britam told a different story. Profit before tax rose 7.8% to KSh 7.90 billion, its strongest result in at least a decade. Yet the headline masks a similar strain lower down the income statement.
Table 2: CIC vs Britam, FY2025 vs FY2024
| Metric | CIC FY2025 | CIC FY2024 | Britam FY2025 | Britam FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance Revenue | KSh 29.5bn (+12%) | KSh 26.3bn | KSh 41.7bn (+11%) | KSh 37.6bn |
| Profit Before Tax | KSh 1.25bn | KSh 3.99bn | KSh 7.90bn | KSh 7.30bn |
| Profit After Tax | KSh 513.8m | KSh 2.85bn | KSh 5.54bn | KSh 5.04bn |
| EPS | KSh 0.21 | KSh 1.04 | KSh 2.18 | KSh 1.98 |
| Total Assets | KSh 73.7bn | KSh 61.9bn | KSh 243.8bn | KSh 208.4bn |
| Net Investment Result | KSh 1.6bn | KSh 3.8bn | KSh 31.87bn | KSh 30.6bn |
| Dividend | KSh 0.13/share | KSh 0.13/share | Nil | Nil |
Revenue Grew, But Slower Than Before
Sector wide, insurance revenue expanded 8.8% in 2025, a marked slowdown from 32.3% growth the year before. Claims growth cooled further, easing to 0.4% from 7.0%. The loss ratio barely moved, holding at 82.7% against 82.3% in 2024, which tells its own story: insurers are not paying out meaningfully more in claims relative to premiums. Their problem sits squarely in overheads, which pushed the combined ratio to 146.0% from 127.3%. A ratio above 100% means the core underwriting business loses money before investment income steps in to cover the gap.
Deals Reshaped the Ownership Map
Capital movement defined 2025 as much as earnings did.
Table 3: Major Capital and Ownership Moves, 2025
| Transaction | Parties | Value |
|---|---|---|
| General insurance stake sale | Jubilee Holdings → SanlamAllianz Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Burundi, Tanzania) | KSh 4.5bn |
| Rights issue raising combined stake to 71.5% | SanlamAllianz and Hubris Holdings in Sanlam Kenya | KSh 2.5bn |
| ATIDI shareholding increase | Government of Kenya | KSh 8.4bn, up from KSh 3.2bn |
| Original Jubilee general insurance sale (2020) | Jubilee Holdings → Allianz SE | KSh 10.8bn |
What Comes Next for Insurers
Interest rates offer little relief. The Central Bank Rate has fallen 425 basis points since June 2024 to 8.75%, and insurers, who hold 75.2% of their combined portfolios in government securities, will feel that squeeze directly in investment income through the second half of 2026.
The path forward runs through efficiency rather than premium growth alone. Insurers that tighten claims handling, deepen digital distribution and price risk honestly, rather than compete on unsustainable discounts, stand the better chance of turning 2025’s earnings dip into a one year setback rather than a trend. Penetration in Kenya still sits at just 2.5%, leaving enormous room to grow.
Whether that growth shows up in premiums or simply in more insurers chasing the same customers at thinner margins depends on how the next reporting cycle plays out.
