The significance of life assurance funds as mobilizers of savings in Kenya

Abstract

The main objectives of this project were three fold, i. To study the trends in premium levels against GDP between 1987-2000. ii. To test whether life assurance funds have played a significant role in mobilising resources into savings in Kenya. iii. To examine the factors that determine the level of life assurance premiums underwritten by life assurance companies in Kenya. The data used to achieve the above objectives was obtained from various sources, gross premiums data was obtained from the financial statements of insurance companies, information relating to GDP was obtained from the treasury. The study used bar graphs, line graphs and simple linear regression to come up with the conclusions. Observations noticed implied that although life assurance funds have been growing over time, even at a rate higher than the GDP, they have not played a very significant role in harnessing resources into savings. It was also observed that companies that underwrote life assurance also did general insurance business. The companies interviewed admitted that the level of life assurance funds is influenced by variable like social factors, economic factors and even political factors. Though many challenges faced the industry, efforts by the Ministry of Finance and the Commissioner of Insurance office are being consolidated to ensure the operating environment is conducive which will enable a faster growth of the sector. This paper is organised into 5 major sections. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the study. It will introduce the Kenyan scenario and give us the background information on life assurance funds, the global, and continental trends. Briefly it touches on life assurance market, statement of the problem, objectives and importance of the study. Chapter 2 reviews literature on life assurance, any prior related studies, role of life assurance funds in economic development and financial issues relating to life assurance. Chapter 3 has details on research design, population of the study, data collection, hypotheses testing and data analysis procedures. Chapter 4 comprises the workings and analysis of the data collected. Chapter 5 which is the last contains details on discussions of the research findings summary and conclusions as well as recommendations for further research.