Jubilee Holdings has stopped fake insurance claims worth Sh400 million in the financial year ending December 2024 thanks to its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect fraud.
AI Fraud Detection Yields Big Results
Operating in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, Jubilee Holdings reported that its AI-powered fraud detection tool flagged 536 suspicious insurance claims in 2024. This was a 286% increase from the previous year.
Of these, 16 were serious enough to be escalated to the Insurance Fraud Investigations Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. The rest were resolved internally through claim rejections, internal disciplinary action and enhanced risk assessments.
According to Jubilee Holdings Chairman Zul Abdul, the AI technology has been a game-changer by identifying fraud patterns and trends early so we can act fast and allocate resources better.
“When the economy gets tough, fraud increases—especially in the insurance industry,” Mr Abdul said. “AI has given us an edge to stay ahead.”
How AI Flags Suspicious Claims in Real-Time
Mr Abdul gave an example of how the system works in a medical insurance context. If a patient is diagnosed with a common cold but tries to use their prescription to buy unrelated items like aftershave, the AI system detects the inconsistency. Trained to match diagnoses with standard prescription lists, the system instantly flags unusual claims for review.
This has greatly reduced manual claim approvals and fraudulent payouts.
“Now we can catch outlier claims that don’t follow usual patterns — both in size and frequency — so we can act before harm is done,” he said.
Industry-Wide Fraud: 1 in 5 Claims Suspect
Insurance industry stats show that 20% of all claims are fraudulent. Jubilee Holdings CEO Julius Kipng’etich said that reducing this fraud rate is key to lowering premiums and making products more affordable.
“The more fraud we eliminate, the more we can reduce product pricing. This will increase insurance penetration which is still at 3% in Kenya,” Kipng’etich said.
He also noted that tech solutions are not only detecting more fraud but also making insurance products more convenient and accessible to the average customer.
Strong Financial Performance and Dividend Payout
Alongside its fraud-fighting milestones, Jubilee also posted an 82.5% rise in net profit to Sh4.72 billion for the financial year ended December 2024. This growth was largely attributed to strong underwriting performance and investment income.
To reward shareholders, Jubilee approved a total dividend payout of Sh978.39 million, which includes an interim payment of Sh144.95 million disbursed in October 2024, and a final dividend of Sh833.44 million approved during the recent Annual General Meeting.