Saudi Arabia: Industry turns around with net profit of US$196 mln in 2014
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2015
The Saudi insurance industry turned its performance around last year with an underwriting result of SAR651 million (US$174 million), compared to a loss of SAR1.73 billion for the previous year. This led to a net result of SAR735 million for 2014 compared to a loss of SAR1.43 billion for 2013, figures from a Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) report have shown.
GWP reached SAR30.48 billion in 2014, up from SAR25.24 billion in 2013. This represents an increase of 20.8%, compared to the 19.2% growth rate in 2013, according to the report. Insurance penetration increased to 1.08% in 2014, up from 0.9% in 2013.
The health insurance market grew by 21.9% to SAR15.7 billion in 2014 compared to SAR12.9 billion in 2013. This accounted for 52% of the total Saudi insurance market last year, representing the biggest share.
Non-life premiums increased 20.5% y-o-y to SAR13.9 billion in 2014, representing 45% of the market. Protection and savings premiums, which represent 3% of the insurance market, rose 7% to SAR904 million in 2014 compared to SAR844 million in 2013.
There were 37 companies engaged in insurance and reinsurance, all of them listed on the Saudi bourse. In 2014, the top eight insurance companies generated 71.3% of the insurance market’s GWP.
SAR1 = US$0.27