Short-term insurance bedevilled by underinsurance

Short-Term insurance company NicozDiamond says the industry is now bedevilled by under insurance so policyholders will have to battle to keep track of the spiraling price increases.

It says management has to spend a lot of time getting policyholders to review their values in line with inflation and the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar. Inflation kicked off the year at 208 percent and had risen to 365 by half year. It stood at 455 percent at the end of September, an increase of 257 percent over the nine months.

The company, however, like most listed companies made more than double the profit it made last year in the first half of this year. Gross premium income shot up from $4.1 billion to $16.9 billion while underwriting profit rose from $118.1 million to $1.2 billion.

Investment income increased from $298.7 million to $1.7 billion resulting in net profit shooting up from $311.4 million to $2.2 billion. Net profit for last year was $1.1 billion.

The company says its major challenge will be to manage and retain critical staff and to generate sufficient revenue streams to meet the resultant staff related cost increases and operating costs in general.

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