ICEA Lion turns to technology to encourage safe driving -Capital FM

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Insurance and Investment Company ICEA LION Group has launched a mobile phone application-based platform that will enable motor insurance customers to determine their premiums based on their driver behaviour.

The platform, dubbed Secudrive, uses telematics – a technology that captures and transmits specific data that helps to indicate how well or poorly a vehicle is driven.

Evelyne Musunzar, the Business Development Manager, ICEA LION General Insurance for Retail said the platform had been developed with their partner, Swiss Re.

She added that the solution is built on the Coloride app, which runs on a Swiss Re cloud-based IoT platform.

“What is unique about this solution is that it offers drivers coaching using international benchmarks to help improve one’s driving behaviour. We expect that Secudrive will reduce accidents and specifically benefit our customers in terms of premium discounts and rewards on points accumulated out of taking up good driver habits,” she said.

Secudrive is set to continue the growth of customer-focused insurance models, which focuses on ensuring that the cost of insurance is determined by an individual’s scores as opposed to uniform pricing.

Individual drivers will get up to 15 percent discounts on their premiums at the end of the policy period depending on their scores.

The customer driving behaviour will also attract points, which can be redeemed for a variety of services at selected service providers.

“We have made the process very simple. All our clients have to do is to download the app on IOS or App Store, sign up for our motor insurance and switch on that app when driving. The App then collects and transmits driving behaviour relating to one’s acceleration, braking, cornering and phone usage all of which are key in rating the driver,” she added.

ICEA LION General Insurance CEO observed that the  Secudrive will potentially result in a reduction of accidents as drivers improve their behaviour on the road.

“It will also mean faster claims settlement for the customer as one is able to report a claim straight from the scene of the accident. It is a critical delivery of our promise to ensure we bring to market sustainable, customer-focused insurance and investments solutions,” he said.

According to the Association of Kenya Insurers ( AKI) Report 2020, the industry gross written premium stood at Sh232.95 billion as at end of the fourth quarter of 2020 representing an increase of 1.8 percent from Sh228.80 billion in Q4 2019.

General insurance business underwriting results improved from a loss of Sh2.97 billion in Q4 2019 to a loss of Sh1.18 million in Q4 2020.

This could be due to a decrease in incurred claims and management expenses during the lockdown due to COVID-19.

General insurance business remained the largest contributor to industry insurance premium contributing
56.2 percent of the total premium.

Motor insurance and medical insurance classes of business account for 67.4  percent of the gross premium income under the general insurance business.

The high premium volume classes of general insurance business contributed the largest proportions of incurred claims; medical (36.7 percent), motor private (27.2 percent) and motor commercial (24.1 percent).

Motor classes of insurance business comprised 51.3 percent of total claims incurred compared to their contribution of 33 percent of the total premium under general insurance business.

Motor claims decreased with the highest amount compared to the rest of the classes.

The decrease in claims under motor classes of business is mainly attributed to the travel restrictions put in place during the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.