Global Credit Rating (GCR) lowered the credit rating of CIC Insurance Group. The South African financial rating agency made the announcement on Monday, July 12.

GCR lowered the credit profiles of the general and life units of CIC Insurance Group, operating mainly in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Malawi. Thus, CIC Life was assigned a financial strength rating of BBB+ (KE) to BBB (KE) with a negative outlook. The agency also lowered CIC General's financial strength rating from BBB+ (KE) to BBB (KE) with a negative outlook. The South African giant pointed out that the downgrading of CIC Life's rating followed the group's continued high exposure to investment institutions in the context of a large shareholder loan, on commercial terms. “The negative outlook reflects the high sensitivity of investment institutions to market risk in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which could moderate the valuation of the group's capital in the medium term,” noted the rating company. On unit life, GCR noted that over the past five years, the underwriter's ability to generate internal capital has been slow given the weak earnings performance demonstrated over the same period.