britam-insurance-news

Britam Disburses Ksh96.3 Million in Climate Insurance Claims to Farmers and Pastoralists

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Kibaki Muthamia

Britam paid out Ksh97.3 million in claims in 2025 to support 402,681 farmers and pastoralists recover from climate-related shocks across East Africa, reinforcing the Group’s commitment to building climate resilience through sustainable financial solutions.

According to Britam’s 2025 Sustainability Report, the Group continues to expand access to innovative parametric insurance solutions that use satellite data and pre-defined weather thresholds to trigger payouts, enabling faster support for vulnerable communities affected by drought, erratic rainfall, and other climate-related disruptions.

Crop insurance coverage grew by 83% year-on-year, increasing from 161,521 farmers in 2024 to 294,799 farmers in 2025.

During the year, Britam paid Kshs80.4 million in crop insurance claims, providing a critical financial safety net for smallholder farmers facing increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.

In addition, 107,882 pastoralists across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania were covered under Britam’s livestock insurance programme, with Ksh16.9 million paid in claims settlements to affected households.

From left: Britam Group Managing Director & CEO Tom Gitogo, Director Legal & Sustainability and Company Secretary Hilda Njeru and Interim Board Chairperson Celestine Munda during the launch of Britam’s 2025 Sustainability Report. (Image: Files)

“Through inclusive, sustainable and innovative solutions, we are enabling recovery, stability, and continued productivity even in the face of increasing climate uncertainty.

Our focus is to ensure that farmers and pastoralists are not left exposed when climate shocks strike,”

Said Britam Group Managing Director and CEO, Tom Gitogo.

The report also highlights Britam’s growing investment in environmental sustainability and climate action.

In October 2025, Britam commissioned a solar installation at its headquarters, Britam Tower – one of Africa’s tallest green buildings.

The installation is projected to generate 390,000 kWh of clean energy annually, power more than 50% of the building’s energy needs, and offset 198 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to planting 10,800 trees annually.

Beyond its own operations, the Britam Foundation planted 86,000 trees in the Mt. Elgon Water Tower, restored more than 444 acres of degraded land, and supported the creation of 1,358 green jobs in host communities, contributing to the Group’s ambition of planting 60 million trees by 2030.

To strengthen the scale and accountability of this effort, Britam in May 2026 introduced TAWI, a digital platform that enables the real time coordination, tracking, verification, and measurement of tree-planting activities for long-term environmental stewardship.

Britam continued to invest in healthier and more resilient communities.

Through its Lea Mama maternal health programme, over 3,300 mothers were enrolled in 2025, contributing to a 50% reduction in miscarriage rates and achieving an average customer Net Promoter Score of 9.4 out of 10.

The report further underscores Britam’s commitment to responsible governance and ethical business practices.

In 2025, the Group reported zero corruption incidents, contributed Kshs3.1 billion in taxes across its seven markets, and was certified as a Top Employer in Africa for the second consecutive year.

The 2025 Sustainability Report marks Britam’s third annual sustainability disclosure and the first to cover all seven markets under a unified ESG framework, underscoring the Group’s shift from sustainability reporting to sustainability integration. Sustainability is a core pillar of Britam’s pan-African Ascend 2030 strategy.

“This reflects our understanding that sustainable growth requires strong governance and responsible leadership. Ultimately, sustainability is about thinking beyond the present and making decisions with the future in mind,”

Said Hilda Njeru, Director, Legal & Sustainability and Group Company Secretary.

Protecting your Wealth and Legacy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Britam’s Whole Life Insurance Plan

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Kibaki Muthamia

There’s a version of financial planning we all understand – earning, saving, investing and maybe building something on the side.

Then there’s the part most people avoid:

What happens to all of that if you’re suddenly not in the picture?

That’s the gap that Britam’s Whole Life Insurance Plan deliberately seeks to address.

Start Here: What does the Whole Life Plan Actually Do?

At its simplest, this is a lifetime financial cover.

It stays active for as long as you live – and when you’re gone, it pays out a guaranteed amount to the people you’ve listed as beneficiaries.

That payout is not dependent on market conditions, timing or asset sales. It’s fixed, planned, and structured in advance.

Step 1: Think Beyond Income, Think Continuity

Most financial plans are built around you being present, but continuity means asking:

Will my dependents have immediate financial support?

Will ongoing expenses be covered without disruption?

Will assets need to be sold quickly to raise cash?

This plan answers those questions with a defined payout that becomes available when it’s needed most.

Step 2: Set the Level of Cover Based on Real Life

The plan allows for flexible coverage depending on your situation:

Death benefit: Ksh5M to Ksh100M
Disability cover: Ksh2M to Ks100M
Critical illness cover: Ksh2M to Ksh15M

The idea is to match the cover to real obligations – not guesswork.

Step 3: Understand the Timeline in the Cover

Unlike term insurance, which runs out after a set number of years, this plan stays in place permanently.

As long as premiums are paid the cover does not expire, and the payout remains guaranteed.

There’s also a 3% annual increase on the sum assured, which helps maintain its value over time.

Step 4: Choose a Payment Structure That Works Best

The plan doesn’t force a single payment style, there’s a few flexible payment options.

You can:

Pay once (single premium),
Pay monthly, quarterly, Semi-annually or annually,
Spread payments across a fixed period, like 10 – 20 years.

This flexibility allows you to align the plan with your current financial flow instead of disrupting it.

Step 5: Add Extra Layers of Protection

Depending on your needs, you can include additional benefits to your cover.

These include:

Disability cover, if income gets interrupted,
Critical illness cover for major health events,
A funeral expense rider for immediate costs after demise.

These are optional add-ons, not automatic. It means that you can easily customise your plan.

Step 6: Factor in the Tax Advantage

An important detail to understand is that payouts from the policy are 100% tax-free.

This ensures that beneficiaries receive the full value without deductions – something that becomes significant in estate planning.

Step 7: What Happens When It’s Time to Claim

When a claim is made the process is fast and straightforward, without any headache for the beneficiaries.

All you need to make a claim:

Required documents are submitted by the beneficiary,
The insurer processes the claim,
The payout is instantly released to beneficiaries.

Because the structure is already in place, there’s no need for emergency fundraising or forced liquidation of assets.

Secure Your Legacy Now

Wealth rarely fades because it wasn’t built. It fades when there’s no clear plan for transition.

Costs show up fast, access to funds can stall and decisions get made under pressure.

A whole life plan brings a clear, pre-set process with a defined payout and named beneficiary.

If you’re looking to put that structure in place, Britam’s Whole Life Insurance Plan offers a starting point.

To explore your options or get a personalised quote, call or WhatsApp 0705 100 100 and speak to an advisor.

Britam Leverages AI to Settle Motor Claims in Two Hours

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Kibaki Muthamia

Britam General Insurance has unveiled an AI-powered drive-through claims settlement facility that processes and pays motor claims within two hours, a sharp reduction from the five-day industry standard that has long frustrated Kenyan motorists.

The Britam AI Motor Assessment Service, located at Britam Centre in Nairobi, was developed by BetaLab, Britam’s innovation hub.

It targets comprehensive motor insurance policyholders whose vehicles have sustained minor damage. Upon arrival at the assessment centre, a customer’s vehicle is photographed and assessed via AI in approximately 15 minutes.

A digital claim form is then sent directly to the customer’s phone for completion, eliminating the traditional and cumbersome paper-based process of filling, scanning and submitting physical documents.

The completed form is reviewed internally within 30 minutes, and settlement, whether by direct bank transfer, M-Pesa, or a repair authority from Britam’s panel of garages, follows within an hour.

Britam General Insurance CEO & Principal Officer James Mbithi (second right) and Britam Connect CEO & Principal Officer Evah Kimani (third right) during the launch of the Britam AI Motor Assessment Service. (Image: Files)

The stated end-to-end target is two hours from arrival to resolution.

James Mbithi, CEO of Britam General Insurance, said the service marks a fundamental shift in how the company delivers on its insurance promise.

“Today, five working days is not good enough for our customers. We have launched a capability that assesses accident vehicles using AI and pays the customer within two hours.

In the future, we will be looking at how to scale this up so that a customer can do it at the scene of the accident, wherever they are.”

Mr Mbithi added that the AI platform enhances precision in damage analysis beyond the capability of the human eye, while simultaneously providing the data-backed assessments needed to reduce disputes between the insurer and policyholders.

Fraud has historically been a drain on the motor insurance segment. According to data from the IRA, insurance firms turned down 22,364 compensation claims worth Ksh 658.9 million in the first quarter of 2025 alone, a portion of which involved suspected fraud and improper documentation.

Britam says its platform addresses this vulnerability through three integrated AI models:

A vehicle object detection model that validates image authenticity and identifies the correct side of the vehicle being photographed;

A damage detection model that uses computer vision to classify damage type, severity and affected components;

A price discovery engine that aggregates real-time data from parts suppliers and repairers to generate localized cost estimates.

Together, these models reduce the scope for manipulated photographs, inflated repair quotes and inconsistent assessments, the three most common vectors for motor claims fraud in Kenya.

The digitization of claims processing is a core pillar of Britam’s broader technology strategy, noting that it has operated a structured data-driven assessment framework for over five years that tracks parts prices and informs assessor decisions, a foundation on which the AI layer now sits.

For the moment, the service is confined to vehicles that are drive-able and have suffered minor damage and is available only to holders of comprehensive motor policies.