GCR places CICA Re’s financial strength ratings on “Review Extension”
Rating action Johannesburg, 26 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has placed Joint Reinsurance Company of Member States of CIMA’s (“CICA Re”) national scale financial…
GCR affirms Assurances Réassurances Omnibranches’ national scale financial strength rating of AA(MG); Outlook Stable
Rating action Johannesburg, 26 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has affirmed Assurances Réassurances Omnibranches’ (“ARO”) national scale financial strength rating of AA(MG); Outlook Stable.…
GCR affirms A1+(ZA)(sf) rating assigned to the Notes issued by iMpumelelo CP Note Programme 1 (RF) Ltd
Rating Action Johannesburg, 25 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has affirmed the national scale short-term Programme credit rating of ‘A1+(ZA)(sf)’ assigned to the Asset…
GCR assigns A(ZA)(EL) ratings to Accelerate’s new secured note issuance; Outlook Negative
Rating Action Johannesburg, 24 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has assigned national scale long term issue ratings of A(ZA)(EL) to the APF15 Notes issued…
GCR expects a relatively stable Kenyan insurance sector in 2021, despite covid-19 uncertainty
GCR rates 21 insurers in the Kenyan insurance industry out of the 67 insurers and reinsurers licensed and regulated by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (“IRA”). The GCR rated sample constitutes 33% of licenced insurers and reinsurers in 2019. Analysed by licences, GCR rated 13 short term insurers out of 38 players and six long term insurers out of the 24 players. Out of the five reinsurers regulated by IRA, GCR rated the two largest risk carriers. Primary insurers in the GCR sample accounted for 48% of aggregated long- and short-term gross written premiums in 2019, using data from IRA.
GCR Withdraws an Existing Rating, Assigns a New Rating and Affirms Existing Ratings of Notes Issued by MW Asset Rentals (RF) Ltd, Outlooks Stable
Rating Action Johannesburg, 22 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has assigned the following national scale long term issue credit rating and outlook to the…
Discovery Health Medical Scheme proposed amalgamation with Quantum Medical Aid Society viewed to be credit neutral
Johannesburg, 18 February 2021 – GCR Ratings (“GCR”) views the recently announced proposed amalgamation between Discovery Health Medical Scheme (“DHMS”) and Quantum Medical Aid Society…
How does the somewhat inconsistent approach to Government support impact South African State-Owned Enterprise creditworthiness?
GCR believes that the Government of South Africa continues to show a strong willingness to support SOEs in most instances. However, because of constrained resources, actual support is becoming less consistent and less reliable.
New insurance law likely to have a positive impact on the Ghanaian insurance industry
In February 2021 the Ghanaian president signed into law the new Insurance Bill, 2020 which includes the introduction of three additional compulsory covers: group life for employees, public liability, and professional indemnity. GCR expects Insurance penetration in Ghana to improve as a result.
GCR publishes the Country Risk Score for Gabon and Senegal
GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has published the Country Risk Score for Gabon and Senegal. The Country Risk assessment, which is a key part of the operating environment score, interacts with GCR ratings in four ways. Firstly, the country risk scores create the foundation for the Anchor Credit Evaluator (the mapping table, see the Criteria for the GCR Ratings Framework and the interactive online map at
