Staff Writer
CBZ Holdings says its insurance cluster secured key partnerships and affinities in 2024 and increased dollarisation of the book to 83 per cent.
The group’s insurance units include CBZ Life, CBZ Insurance and CBZ Risk Advisory. This is in addition to the group’s other subsidiaries in banking, investments, wealth management, mortgages and retail finance.
In the year to December 31, 2024, the insurance cluster merged some of its products with bank products as well and achieved high levels of business retention.
“But key constraints remained, such as liquidity crisis spillovers from the banking sector and delayed recapitalisation in short-term insurance,” said group chief executive Lawrence Nyazema in a presentation.
According to the financials, CBZ Life’s revenue market share reduced to 3.2 per cent compared to 3.6 per cent in the prior year.
CBZ Insurance revenue market share marginally increased to 4 per cent compared to 3.9 per cent in the prior year, while CBZ Risk Advisory increased to 7.4 per cent from 4.4 per cent.
Overall, the group’s gross written premium amounted to $21.34 million, while claims paid were $4.13 million.
The group’s insurance cluster has 115,000 active policies. Short-term policies were 11,000, while long-term policies were 103,000.
During the year under review, CBZ Life had a core capital of US$3,243 mln compared to a regulatory capital of US$2 mln, resulting in a buffer of US$ 1,243 mln.
CBZ Insurance had a core capital of US$788,644 against a regulatory requirement of US$750,000, resulting in a buffer of US$ 38,644.
CBZ Holdings in August 2024, under its five-year strategy, embarked on a comprehensive restructuring exercise which underscored the need to realign the group’s corporate and human resources structures to drive operational efficiency, embrace technological advancement and position the business for future growth. The exercise was successfully concluded on 31 January 2025.
