Wafa Assurance, a leading insurer in Morocco, has achieved a net profit of MAD841 million (US$83.4 million) for 2016, an increase of 5.2% y-o-y, driven by non-life operations despite intense competition.
Mr Ali Harraj, CEO of Wafa Assurance, said that profit in the non-life business stood at MAD961 million, surging by 45.5% y-o-y. In contrast, profit in the life business decreased by MAD32 million to MAD291 million due mainly to the impairment of financial assets, the company said in a statement.
The company’s turnover rose by 14.2% to MAD7.3 billion last year. Its life business contributed to the bulk of the turnover with just over MAD4 billion. Growth in this segment in 2016 over 2015 was 18.1% “mainly from the savings business”. The non-life segment saw revenue rise by 9.6% to MAD3.2 billion. This growth was driven by both the personal and professional market and the enterprises market, explained Wafa Assurance – a subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco’s biggest bank.
Apart from its home market, Morocco, the company has operations in four other African countries, namely, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. It launched operations in the latter two countries last year.
Wafa Assurance wants to accelerate its development in the continent’s markets. “We are looking at majority or total acquisition in a number of markets,” Mr Harraj said.
He noted that in the Inter-African Conference of Insurance Markets (CIMA) comprising 14 sub-Saharan countries, new regulations impose a minimum capital requirement of CFA5 billion (US$8.1 million) on insurers. Operators which already have licences have a period of time to adapt to the new rules.
The regulatory changes could lead to consolidation in the insurance sector and open up opportunities for major pan-African players such as Wafa Assurance.
MAD1 = US$0.10