GCR affirms Goldstar Insurance Company Limited’s national scale financial strength rating of A+(UG); Outlook Stable
Goldstar Insurance Co Ltd has maintained its strong Credit Rating of A+, certified by the Global Credit Ratings, with the outlook accorded as Stable.
Goldstar has a very strong solvency ratio and liquidity ratio, one of the highest in the Ugandan Insurance market. This provides confidence to clients, knowing they are insured with a financial strong and sound institution.
In addition, Goldstar has one of the highest Capital Adequacy Ratios in the market – making it one of the few companies to pass the new Risk Based Capital requirements.
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN KAWUMA – GLOBAL CREDIT RATING A+
We are one of the leading general insurance companies in the market trading in all classes of general insurance. We are a home grown institution / indigenous that has been around for 25 years. Our focus on service excellence and prudent risk underwriting has propelled us as a key player in the market in terms of market share and profitability.
A Credit ratings is an opinion of an independent agency regarding the financial strength of an insurance company. Because this opinion is very critical to drive customer’s choice on where to safely transfer their risks, the caliber of the rating agency therefore is of utmost importance. GCR is Africa’s number 1 rating agency and they awarded us an A+ rate. This rate basically justifies our high claims paying ability. This to me and just like to the insuring customer is a confidence boost. That on a rainy day, they will surely be protected. That’s why customers seek insurance solutions. We have maintained this rating for the last 6 years!
We are a very solvent company. Our assets by far exceed our liabilities and other comparable commitments. For the last four (4 ) years, our solvency margin has been well over 1000% on average. This underpins our core strength as a solid company.
The industry is promising and recent growth statistics are a clear indication that we are on the right path. We have to continue to provide confidence to our customers that we pay claims. Insurance players have a responsibility to sensitize the public to erode any fears about our claims paying ability and having ratings like this is one of the ways to assert the message. Secondly, for the industry to flourish players must be financially strong to deal with customer’s claims in a timely manner. The more high rated players we have, the better for the industry. Our collective financial strength is better for the market.
Because of our prudent risk underwriting, since inception we have returned an underwriting profit. Not so many companies in this market have positive underwriting results and for a sustained period of 23 years. Underwriting profit is what remains from the revenue collected after claims have been paid and administrative expenses have been deducted. Profitability just like growth is very important for a company to be successful and remain in business.
You must have read or heard this common phrase…”revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is reality’! This is as relevant to insurance as it is to any business. Short term business means claims are turnaround in a short time. When a customer suffers a loss, a company should be ready to pay in the shortest time possible. Therefore our strong liquidity position is evidence to our ability to pay our short term and long-term obligations as they fall due. This explains in part why our claims turn around time is beyond market averages.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT:
SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE
Global Credit Ratings (“GCR”) has accorded the above credit rating to Goldstar Insurance Company Limited (“Goldstar”) based on the following key criteria:
- The rating affirmation reflects the insurer’s very strong financial profile, characterised by very strong risk adjusted capitalisation and liquidity, while the strong earnings capacity assessment factors in an expected normalisation in underwriting profitability and continued sound net earnings.
- Goldstar’s robust financial profile is a function of strong capital generation from operations and a low risk retention operating model
- Very strong historical internal capital generation has built a level of capital redundancy in the capital base, with the GCR capital adequacy ratio measuring at a high 4.3x at FY19 (FY18: 3.9x), benefiting from a conservative investment portfolio, relatively limited credit exposures and very low underwriting risk exposures
- Liquidity strength is reflected in cash and stressed assets coverage of net technical liabilities of a high 5.1x (FY17: 5.6x), and operational cash coverage of 28 months (FY18: 35 months). Overall, headroom in the financial profile metrics is viewed to comfortably absorb the base case impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Goldstar’s business profile is healthy, supported by moderately strong competitive positioning and fairly well diversified earnings.
