How mergers are reshaping Uganda’s life insurance market

Uganda’s life-insurance market is being reshaped by mergers, acquisitions and the growing importance of medical insurance, with a small group of insurers now controlling most of the business.

The latest Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) figures show Jubilee Life Insurance at the top of the market at the end of the second quarter of 2026, with gross written premiums of Shs131.68 billion, representing 25.12 per cent of the Shs524.14 billion market.

Prudential Assurance followed with Shs123.37 billion, giving it a 23.54 per cent share, while ICEA Life Assurance was third with Shs112.27 billion and a 21.42 per cent share.

The three companies together accounted for 70.08 per cent of all life-insurance premiums during the quarter, highlighting the increasing concentration of a market that has nine active players.

But Jubilee’s position at the top tells only part of the story.

Its rise is closely linked to the decision to combine its previously separate life and health-insurance businesses, a move that dramatically changed the scale of its reported premiums and altered the competitive landscape.

Merger changes the numbers

Jubilee’s premiums more than doubled, rising 109.87 per cent from Shs62.74 billion in the second quarter of 2025 to Shs131.68 billion in the same period this year.

The increase followed the amalgamation of Jubilee Health and Jubilee Life Insurance, with Jubilee Life becoming the continuing entity.

The merger, approved after Jubilee Holdings’ board initiated the process in April 2025, was intended to strengthen the company’s operational capacity, competitiveness and financial resilience.

The impact is now clearly visible in the regulator’s rankings.

Of Jubilee’s Shs131.68 billion in premiums in the second quarter, medical and health insurance contributed Shs66.37 billion, or about half of the company’s business.

Individual life contributed Shs55.30 billion, while annuities and personal pensions generated Shs5.35 billion. Group life and group credit contributed Shs2.89 billion and Shs1.77 billion respectively.

This means the merger was critical to Jubilee’s position at the top.

Without the medical business, its other categories generated about Shs65.31 billion — a figure that would have left the insurer well below its reported overall position.

The comparison with the previous year should therefore be treated cautiously because Jubilee’s 2026 figure incorporates business that was previously reported under a separate health insurer.

Nevertheless, the merger has given Jubilee a significantly broader platform from which to compete for customers seeking medical cover, life protection, savings, pensions and credit-related insurance.

The strategy had already pushed Jubilee to first position by December 2025, when it reported Shs253.83 billion in premiums and a 25.91 per cent market share.

Prudential’s remarkable rise

Jubilee’s emergence at the top comes after Prudential spent four years dominating the market.

Prudential entered Uganda in 2015 through the acquisition of Goldstar Life Assurance. At the time, it was far from being a major player.

In 2017, Prudential generated only Shs6.97 billion in premiums, accounting for about 4.1 per cent of the market and ranking seventh.

UAP led with Shs45.07 billion.

Prudential’s growth thereafter was rapid. Its premiums almost tripled to Shs20.24 billion in 2018, before rising to Shs36.13 billion in 2019.

By 2020, it had entered the top five with Shs55.03 billion and a 16.97 per cent market share.

The major breakthrough came in 2021, when its premiums surged 73.36 per cent to Shs95.39 billion, lifting its market share to 24.10 per cent and moving it from fourth to first.

The growth was helped by Prudential’s acquisition of the medical-insurance portfolio of IAA Healthcare, which added about 50,000 customers and immediately strengthened its presence in a segment that has since become increasingly important in the life-insurance rankings.

Prudential retained the top position for four consecutive years. Its premiums rose from Shs115.60 billion in 2022 to Shs154.68 billion in 2023 and Shs196.30 billion in 2024.

Even after losing first place in 2025, Prudential continued to grow, with premiums reaching a record Shs234.87 billion.

Its loss of the crown was therefore not caused by a collapse in its business. Rather, Jubilee’s enlarged portfolio grew faster after the merger, reaching Shs253.83 billion.

The second-quarter figures tell a similar story. Prudential’s premiums increased 6.49 per cent year-on-year to Shs123.37 billion, but its market share declined from about 28.74 per cent to 23.54 per cent.

ICEA emerges as the challenger

While Jubilee and Prudential have exchanged the number-one position, ICEA has quietly established itself as a formidable challenger.

The insurer has remained among the top three since 2020 and was second in 2022 and 2023.

Its premiums rose from Shs27.59 billion in 2017 to Shs197.05 billion in 2025.

In the second quarter of 2026, ICEA recorded Shs112.27 billion, representing 21.42 per cent of the market.

Its premiums grew 43.19 per cent from Shs78.41 billion during the same period last year.

ICEA is now only 2.12 percentage points behind Prudential and 3.7 percentage points behind Jubilee.

That makes the contest at the top considerably tighter than the headline ranking suggests.

Former leaders lose ground

The changing order has come at the expense of some insurers that once dominated the market.

Old Mutual Life, formerly UAP Life, ranked fourth in the second quarter with Shs66.33 billion and a 12.65 per cent share.

Its long-term performance illustrates the changing nature of competition. Its premiums increased from Shs45.07 billion in 2017 to Shs115.71 billion in 2025, but its market share declined from about 26.49 per cent to 11.81 per cent.

Liberty has also fallen down the rankings.

The insurer, which was second in 2017 and 2018, ranked sixth in the second quarter of 2026 after premiums fell 15.77 per cent year-on-year to Shs35.73 billion.

Sanlam completed the top five with Shs46.18 billion, up 20.03 per cent from the second quarter of 2025.

The changes show that growing premiums alone do not guarantee a stronger market position. Companies can expand in absolute terms while losing ground if competitors grow faster or gain scale through acquisitions and portfolio transfers.

A bigger, more concentrated market

Uganda’s life-insurance market has expanded sharply over the past decade, from Shs170.10 billion in 2017 to Shs979.73 billion in 2025.

By the end of the second quarter of 2026, premiums stood at Shs524.14 billion, 30.04 per cent higher than the Shs403.05 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Yet growth has gone hand in hand with greater concentration.

The three leading insurers now control more than seven in every 10 shillings generated in life-insurance premiums.

The growing importance of medical insurance is also changing the nature of competition. Jubilee’s current lead is largely built on the combined strength of life and health insurance, while Prudential continues to command a strong position in individual life.

In the second quarter, Prudential generated Shs78.01 billion in individual-life premiums, compared with Jubilee’s Shs55.30 billion and ICEA’s Shs47.09 billion.

The battle for Uganda’s life-insurance market is, therefore, no longer simply about selling traditional life policies.

Mergers, medical insurance, pensions, savings products, group schemes and other financial-protection products are increasingly determining who gains scale.

For Jubilee, the immediate challenge will be to demonstrate that its new market leadership can be sustained beyond the one-off effect of consolidation.

For Prudential, the task is to regain momentum after four years at the top.

And for ICEA, the narrow gap with the two leaders presents an opportunity to turn consistent growth into a first-ever number-one position.

The next phase of Uganda’s insurance market may consequently be determined less by the number of companies competing and more by which insurers can build scale while retaining customers in an increasingly consolidated industry.