EIC fortifies strategy as financial sector opens up

The state owned insurance giant, Ethiopian Insurance Company (EIC), discloses that it has carried out a strategy to cope up with the opening up of the financial sector.
The company that dominates the insurance industry said that it has had a business strategy that shall allow the company to manage operation with local competitors.
The latest government initiative in the opening up of the financial industry for foreign operators and the coming of continental free trade is noted to be a new experience for the sector.
Based on that, EIC’s CEO Netsanet Lemessa, disclosed that the insurer has developed a new program, which considers the new coming competition.
He said that the previous strategies had considered the closed market which now has to evolve given the change and imminent business trend.
“As per the new program, EIC with its partners will facilitate a capacity building, experience sharing and professional assistance for staffs,” he said.
The insurance giant in the just ended financial year registered a great performance despite its claim payment spiking by 327 percent.
The state owned company disclosed that in the 2021/22 financial year, it secured 1.3 billion birr which is 17.1 percent higher than the preceding year.
In the year, the company underwriting result was 1.8 billion birr which is an increase of 29.1 percent from the performance attained in the 2020/21 financial year.
Its revenue from investment and others sources also had great results standing in at 528.3 million birr with 10.3 percent year on year growth.
The gross written premium for the year also registered an increase by 7.3 percent to reach 6.5 billion birr. The share of EIC’s premium is 39.3 percent of the industry, which has 18 operators including 17 private companies.
However, in the year the claim settlement had spiked by 327 percent to stand at 5.4 billion birr.
EIC’s CEO said that even though the amount of claim paid had significantly increased compared with the preceding year it was still 33.7 percent lower from the projection that the company set for the year.
At the end of the financial year, EIC’s coverage has reached four trillion birr with over a quarter increment compared with the same period of last year.