The Comesa Council of Bureaux Secretariat announced that online purchase and digital verification of cross-border motor insurance will be introduced, targeting a market that generates KSh3.5 billion in premiums each year.
The Yellow Card, launched in 1987, offers third-party liability cover for motorists travelling across 18 Comesa member states, allowing a single certificate instead of separate policies.
Calven Mutyavaviri, chief executive of the Comesa Council of Bureaux Secretariat, said pilots for online sales are underway in Zambia this year before a region-wide rollout, adding that motorists should be able to buy the card at their convenience.
Kenya Re will act as the national bureaux for the scheme, delivering local implementation and technical support, while Zep-Re will serve as the pool manager.
The secretariat also plans to broaden a mobile-phone verification system that lets police and other enforcement officers confirm the authenticity of insurance certificates, with data integration across member states supporting the effort.
Mutyavaviri noted that evidence from one member country already led to the disruption of a syndicate issuing fraudulent Yellow Cards.
An ICT sub-committee meeting in Nairobi this week will discuss the digital sales rollout and mechanisms for cross-border data sharing.
The scheme issued more than 340,000 cards in 2025, generating about $27 million (KSh3.5 billion) in premiums, up from $14.7 million (KSh1.9 billion) in 2022, and has grown at an average of over 10 per cent annually since 2018.
Samuel Ruugia, head of ICT at Kenya Re, said poor data and system integration have hampered verification of cards issued in one country at border posts in another, describing integration as a key challenge the initiative seeks to resolve.
He explained that a Yellow Card issued in Nairobi should be verifiable seamlessly at any border without complex procedures, enabling on-the-go checks.
The digitalisation drive also aims to curb fraudulent insurance certificates that can leave accident victims without compensation when foreign motorists are involved.
