To act as a reliable reinsurer with local financial muscle, capacity and technical expertise to retain in the continent, a portion of the premiums previously ceded out of Africa. Even today, 70% of the continent's reinsurance premiums still leaves Africa annually. The establishment and success of Africa Re is a matter of priority for Africa because in a world of mergers and acquisitions, the continent cannot afford to remain fragmented along national or regional lines. Africa Re is the first and only African reinsurer to be ranked among the top 50 reinsurers in the world.
Africa Re was established on 24 February 1976 in Yaounde(Cameroon) by the plenipotentiaries of member States of the Organization of African Unity (now African Union) following a recommendation of the African Development Bank.
To foster the development of the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa;
To promote the growth of national, regional and sub-regional underwriting and retention capacities; To support African economic development.
To be the leading reinsurer in Africa;
To deliver outstanding quality service to customers and other stakeholders;
To be the employer of choice in the reinsurance sector;
To be an excellent corporate entity that promptly meets all obligations to its stakeholders.
Yes, Africa Re is fulfilling its purpose for the following reasons:
a) In over 40 years of existence, Africa Re has given valuable technical support to its cedants, thus enabling them to confidently write business at the national or regional levels.
b) As a commercial concern, Africa Re prides itself as the only African financial entity, apart from ATI, to be rated“A” by S&P and A.M. Best.
c) At year end 2021, Africa Re had a shareholders' fund of US$1.00 billion and posted a gross premium income of US$845.34 million while retaining 83.8% of its premium income. Africa Re has been consistently profitable since inception, accumulating a total profit of US$1.19 billion since 1978.
Since inception, Africa Re has written and retained a cumulative premium in excess of US$7 billion that could otherwise have left the continent.
Prior to 1975 when the idea of Africa Re was mooted by the African Development Bank, there were 42 independent African States out of which 36 later became shareholders of Africa Re at inception in 1976.
To date, the Sovereign State membership stands at 41out of 53countries in Africa. A few other countries have signified their interest to become members. Thus the list shall be updated from time to time.
Firstly, Africa Re statutory provisions stipulate that 25% of its capital should be reserved for non-African strategic Shareholders (Class B).
Secondly, their presence provides a platform to pass across international experience/expertise that is necessary to boost Africa Re's image, capacity and operational efficacy. It is a strategic decision that continues to be of value to our clients in Africa and beyond.
No individual is allowed to buy shares in Africa Re.
Africa Re is the first reinsurer in Africa to voluntarily submit itself to an international and transparent financial rating. Africa Re is currently rated “A“(Excellent) by A.M. Best and “A-“(Strong) by Standard and Poor's both with Stable Outlook.
Africa Re is reinsured mainly by securities with higher or equal rating such as Allianz SE, Lloyd's syndicates, among others.
Africa Re offers a wide array of products and services, namely:
a) Traditional products such as motor, fire, engineering, marine and miscellaneous accident classes;
b) Special risks: aviation, oil & gas, political risks, PVT, cybercrime, agriculture etc.
In order to ensure good performance, Africa Re has a strong underwriting focus. The underwriting guidelines must be followed to the letter. Every year, a memo is sent to Regional Directors and Managing Directors of subsidiaries indicating,among other things, the underwriting capacity of different classes of business for the year. For instance, in 2018, the capacities are as follows:
a) Property: facultative-US$30million. Treaty-US$15million
b) Marine cargo/hull: both facultative and treaty are US$10m each
c) Energy onshore/offshore: facultative US$60million, Treaty US$10million
d) Aviation: facultative-US$12million Treaty-US$3million
e) Motor and accident: Africa Re retains wholly for own account.
Furthermore, risks with high exposure or potential high liability need to be referred to the Department of Central Operations and Special Risks for assessment in accordance with the Corporation's underwriting guidelines.
Africa Re chose to write business in Brazil mainly becauseof our strategic partnership with IRB- Brasil Re, themarket leader in the country.
In the past, Africa Re wrote business in Europe but stopped for strategic reasons. Apart from its main markets in Africa, Africa Re also writes business in the Middle East, Asia and Brazil. For the moment, Africa Re does not intend to expand its operations outside these locations.
Africa Re's investment philosophy is quite conservative in the sense that its financial assets should more than meet current and future claims as well as other financial obligations. This overrides the pressure to maximise returns with its associated consequences.
This strategy is carried out through a well-crafted investment management programme. Investment portfolio is well diversified across assets and styles; primary focus is capital preservation and liquidity.
Yes, Africa Re sponsors a number of educational
programmes, which include the following:
a) One of the main programmes sponsored is the partnership between Africa Re and the African Leadership University (ALU). ALU (www.alueducation.com) pioneered a fresh approach to tertiary education in Africa by offering accredited undergraduate and post graduate programmes. Africa Re supports ALU as a Corporate Platinum Partner in insurance.
b) Africa Re is also in partnership with the International Labour Organisation's Impact Insurance Facility to support the development of micro insurance in Africa through training.
c) Africa Re provided funds to the West African Insurance Institute to complete its ultramodern library.
d) Furthermore, the Corporation has a partnership with the London School of Insurance (LSI) to develop specific courses on insurance and reinsurance with the aim of training young African professionals.
e) In addition, through its corporate social responsibility, the Corporation finances some African insurance training institutions namely: West African Insurance Institute (WAII) Banjul,The Gambia,http://waufis.org/ ;Institut International des Assurances (IIA) Yaounde,Cameroon,
Africa Re arranges various training sessions for its clients in the regions in which it operates. Every year, a training calendar is published on its website. The Corporation has launched an online training programme for young insurance professionals. Africa Re remains committed to supporting skills acquisition in the African insurance industry as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Africa Re operates from eight strategic locations on the continent. An officer is responsible for markets with in a specific geographical area. This enables Africa Re to effectively provide quality service to the reinsurance markets in the continent. The Corporation operates from the following production centres:
Six regional offices
Lagos, Nigeria: Anglophone West Africa and African Pools; Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire: Francophone West and Central Africa;
Casablanca, Morocco: Maghreb;
Cairo, Egypt: North East Africa and the Middle East; Nairobi, Kenya: East Africa and part of Southern Africa; and
Ebene, Mauritius: African Indian Ocean Islands, Portuguese-speaking African market, Asia and Brazil.
Two subsidiaries:
African Reinsurance Corporation (South Africa)Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa: South Africa and neighbouring markets
African Retakaful Company Limited, Cairo,Egypt: Africa, Asia and Middle East Retakafulmarkets.
One local office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
One resident underwriter in Kampala, Uganda.
Africa Re is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and to provide employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. Our goal is to have a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. All recruitments are based on qualification, merit and business need. Vacant positions are regularly published on the Corporation's website.
Africa Re's Enterprise Risk Management ensures appropriate risk management and control culture, which clearly assigns roles and responsibilities for all significant risks to which the Organisation is exposed. Two specialised committees, one within Management and the other on the Board of Directors, support the successful implementation of this policy.
111 African Insurance & reinsurance companies. (34%)
3 Non-African Investors (FAIRFAX, AXA & Allianz SE) (23%)
41 Member States (35%)
Africa Re is committed to acting responsibly towards the communities where its staff members live and work. The Corporation conducts its business in an ethical and safe manner, in compliance with its environmental, social and economic values. Africa Re aspires to be known and\ respected not only for its financial performance but also for its commitment to corporate social responsibility.
Some CSR activities of Africa Re are:
The African Insurance Awards reward excellence in innovative and sustainable development in the African insurance industry, as well as the best corporate management, leadership and governance in the African insurance markets.
The three categories of the Awards are as follows:
Insurance Company of the Year:
this category is open to all African registered insurance companies and focuses on the performance of the last 2 years;
CEO of the year:
CEO of an insurance company who has made an outstanding contribution in the last 12 months or more, either through the advancement of his company or the insurance industry;
Innovation of the Year: this award is given to an insurance company for excelling in the use of technology, launching of a breakthrough product /service or a new and innovative distribution channel or method.
Partnership between Africa Re and ALU
School of Excellence for Insurance
Partnership between Africa Re and ILO's
Impact Insurance Facility
53rd Africa Day and Internally Displaced
Persons(IDP)/Charity Outreach Programmes
Sponsorship of the “Educate-A- Child” Initiative.
Africa Re enjoys the status of a local company in all its Member States. In the other markets it is considered as an international company.
The headquarters of the Corporation was chosen by the plenipotentiaries of the founding Member States in 1976. Till date, nothing has justified a review of this decision.
