Authorities review insurance legislation as market starts to move beyond the influence of the South African regulatory model

Compared to most other countries in the region, with the exception of South Africa, the insurance industry in Namibia accounts for a fairly substantial proportion of GDP. The insurance industry is surprisingly well developed given the size of the economy. In 2007 Namibia was the 57th largest insurance market worldwide in terms of life insurance, impressive given the size of the population and the fact that only a relatively small proportion of the population insures. The advanced state of the insurance industry reflects South Africa’s involvement in the country up until 1990 and the market’s continuing links with the South African insurance industry. Whilst, however, the Namibian industry trends seem to echo those in South Africa, there is also a trend for Namibian companies to become increasingly independent from their South African head offices

As at November 2008 there were 18 licensed long-term insurers, one of which was Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation (NamibRe), a reinsurance company no longer writing life reinsurance business. A new company called Hollard Life, part of the South African Hollard Group, was registered in October 2008. It should be noted that there are not actually 17 functional life insurers in Namibia - some of the companies have ownership links with each other, some are essentially asset managers whilst others deal specifically with funeral insurance only.