DirectLine Marks 20 Years, Discloses KSh 1b Payments in 2025 Despite Shutdown Saga in 2024
- DirectLine Assurance Company celebrated its 20th anniversary in June 2025, marking two decades of operations since its licensing
- DirectLine CEO Sammy Kanyi reaffirmed the company’s operational stability and disclosed the amount of claims it had paid since January 2025
- Customer Corporate Team Leader Eliakim Alando praised the company’s dominance in the PSV insurance sector, crediting innovation and strategic partnerships for its sustained growth
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Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
DirectLine Assurance Company has marked its 20th anniversary, in Kenya's insurance industry since it was licenced by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) in October 2005.
Source: UGC
On Friday, June 27, DirectLine hosted a vibrant celebration dinner for its intermediaries and tied agents based in Nairobi. The event followed the kick-off of the annual Wakala Awards on Friday, June 13, 2025, to award its top intermediaries in the first quarter of 2025.
The company leadership took the opportunity to reassure its stakeholders and reaffirm its operational status and resilience following a controversial shutdown declaration made in 2024 by billionaire businessman SK Macharia.
Speaking during the event, Customer Corporate Team Leader Eliakim Alando lauded the company’s continued leadership in the PSV sector, attributing its growth to innovation and strategic partnerships.
“DirectLine continues to dominate the PSV sector and expand its reach in motor insurance through innovative distribution channels and solutions,” Alando said during the celebrations.
Directline CEO Sammy Kanyi also took the opportunity to appreciate the firm’s partners for their loyalty and commitment.
He emphasized the company’s ambition to replicate the successful collaborations and emphasised that Directline remains committed to honouring all valid claims, having paid out over KSh 1 billion in claims since January 2025.
Kanyi also noted that the company is seeking to enhance employment by providing the resources and training Kenyan youths need to learn and start working as Customer Corporate insurance agents tied to Directline.
"The cost of minor accidents; currently we have the small claims courts which are making judgements within two months. As judgements are flowing, Directline is busy paying claims as they come in. In the first quarter Directline has paid over KSh 1 billion claims," Alando added.
Was Directline shutdown?
The 20th anniversary celebration comes just a year after SK Macharia, who chairs Royal Credit Limited, the majority owner of Directline, attempted to shut down the insurer.
On June 10, 2024, Macharia unilaterally announced the termination of all Directline employees, dissolved its board, and declared that Royal Credit would take over the firm’s assets.
He explained that the freezing of Directline’s bank accounts by the IRA was the justification behind his decision.
IRA affirms Directline's operations
However, the following day, the Insurance Regulatory Authority swiftly moved to nullify Macharia’s announcement.
IRA CEO Godfrey Kiptum declared that Directline remained a licensed and operational insurer, and that all existing policies were valid. He warned that any asset transfers made without regulatory approval were illegal and void from the start.
The saga escalated in October 2024, when the High Court ordered Macharia to return KSh 400 million that he had unlawfully transferred from Directline’s bank account to Toy and Suna Holdings Ltd in May 2024.
Justice Alfred Mabeya ruled that the withdrawal was illegal and designed to cripple the insurer financially and emphasised the need to protect the interests of Directline's policyholders and claimants.
Despite these controversies, Directline’s latest anniversary celebration was designed to send a strong message to all its stakeholders that the company is not only operational, but thriving as a key player in Kenya’s motor insurance sector.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
