Blue Shield Placed Under Receivership

Troubled insurer Blue Shield was on Friday placed under statutory management by the Insurance Regulatory Authority for inability to honour claims. IRA commissioner Sammy Makove further barred the insurer from conducting any new business and advised existing policy holders to use other underwriters, allAfrica.com reported. IRA attributed the firms woes to its involvement in the public service vehicles (PSV) insurance business which has been beset by soaring claims, fraud and litigation. IRA has yet to establish how much the company owes because it did not file its statutory accounts with the regulator this year but as of the previous year's accounts, the firm owed over Sh1billion. Blue Shield, which was established in 1983, operated until 2003 as a compliant composite underwriter, Makove said. After entering the PSV insurance business, the firm started facing challenges forcing the IRA to increase its surveillance of the firm in 2008. Read more.