CBZ’s gross PML seen at US$736,74m

CBZ Holdings has estimated the gross Probable Maximum Loss (PML) for its short-term insurance to be US$736,74 million for the year to December 31, 2022 citing the physical impacts of climate change.

The largest loss that an insurer could anticipate suffering as a result of a policy is known as the PML.

Property insurance plans, such as flood or fire insurance, are most frequently linked to PML.

“CBZ Holdings has assessed the PML of its short-term insurance products broken down by its US dollar business and ZimDollar business, natural peril catastrophe events and regions,” the group said in its 2022 annual report.

“The total gross PML for its US dollar business is US$736,74 million and the net PML is US$236,66 million. The total gross PML for the group’s ZWL business is $197,62 billion and the net PML is $79,07 billion.”

The expected maximum loss is one of several measures that helps calculate the amount of cash needed by an insurance business to guarantee that it has adequate money to pay claims under policies.

“The focus has been to standardise the approach to describing elements of risk so that different policies, products and risks can be understood and compared in a similar way,” it said.

CBZ recorded an increase of 24,7 percent in its inflation-adjusted profit for the year ended December 31, 2022, as it recorded a profit after tax of $33,04 billion compared to $26,49 billion that it made in the comparable period of 2021.

In its full-year abridged audited inflation adjusted financial results released to investors on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the bank recorded total comprehensive income of $43,04 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32,4 percent as against $32,51 billion recorded in 2021.

Likewise, its interest income went up by 16,41 percent year on year to $87,21 billion compared to $74,91 billion in 2021, while its non-interest income appreciated by 125,47 percent to $179,02 billion from $79,39 billion in 2021.

The group is expected to continue driving the digital banking agenda for the growth of the non-interest income line.-ebusinessweekly