Company History

The Insurance Company of East Africa was established in 1964 by Eagle Star Insurance Company and Welfare Insurance Company, both of the UK, and the New Zealand Insurance  Company. The three stripes on ICEA's shield represent these three companies.

ICEA was incorporated on 10th November 1964 and started writing general business on 1st January, 1965. The Company entered life assurance business in 1966. ICEA offices were then situated on the 3rd floor of City House, Wabera Street (then known as 4th Elliot Street), Nairobi. The Company had an initial establishment of about 50 staff at both its Nairobi and Mombasa offices.

In 1976, the foreign shareholders sold their interests to a group of pioneering local investors. ICEA thus became the first major privately owned local insurance company.

City House, which housed ICEA's offices, became the first major commercial building acquired by the Company in 1977. Soon after, the company acquired a number of residential properties scattered across Nairobi's premier locations, a process which at that time was crowned by the acquisition in 1977 of Clanson Court, Muthaiga, which after upgrading and expansion was soon to emerge as a worthy forerunner of what was to become ICEA's prestigious portfolio of upmarket, multi-unit residential complexes.

In 1982, the ICEA building on Kenyatta Avenue was completed and the company shifted its head office to this ultra modern building, which still retains its original splendour.

First Chartered Securities (FCS), ICEA's holding company, was formed in 1985 and ICEA became the new company's flagship.

In the early 1980s, Chartered Properties Limited (CPL) was formed to manage ICEA's growing portfolio. CPL was acquired by Knight Frank (K) Ltd (a company partly owned by FCS) in 1998.

To consolidate the company's position as a leading fund manager, ICEA Investment Services Limited, formerly known as Employee Benefit Trustees Limited, was formed as a subsidiary of ICEA in 1984. The company has established itself as one of Kenya's leading fund management institutions.

Riverside Park, Nairobi's leading up-market residential property was completed in 1992 and became fully let within the first few months of its opening.

In 1994, a new property of ICEA, the AMBank House on University Way, Nairobi, was completed and officially opened on 10th November 1994.

Down at the coast, ICEA's property portfolio was similarly growing at a steady pace. The arrival on the scene of Maritime Centre in 1990, which houses our Mombasa branch, heralded ICEA's grand entry into the property market in that region. The completion of Greenwood Lane Apartment in Nyali, MOmbasa in 1998 marked the high point of the process before the severe economic downturn gripping this country slowed down new investment initiatives. In Nairobi, two new residential complexes - Riverside Gardens and St. Austin Gardens, which were to prove extremely successful - were completed in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

From its humble begging in 1964, the company has grown considerably in stature. It is now writing a gross premium of about Kshs 3 billion in Kenya, and has an asset base of around Kshs 13 billion, making it the largest insurance company in East Africa. It has also spread its wings to Uganda with the establishment in 2003 of ICEA, Uganda; one of the fastest growing composite companies in that market. Its regional expansion strategy has also targeted the setting up of branches countrywide; culminating with the opening of offices in Kisumu, Nyeri, Nakuru and Eldoret since the year 2000. ICEA (U) is also in the process of setting up branch offices in various key urban centres in Uganda.