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Saudi Arabia: Insurance more than doubles underwriting gains in 2016 to $564 mln

Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jun 2017

The Saudi insurance industry posted underwriting profit of SAR2,117 million (US$564.4 million), 120% more than the SAR963 million reported in 2015, according to “The Saudi Insurance Market Report” for 2016 released recently by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).
 
   Investment income increased to SAR278 million in 2016, compared to a loss of SAR9 million in 2015.
 
   The insurance market’s net profit totalled SAR2,104 million in 2016, compared to SAR810 million in 2015. Return on equity in 2016 was 14.5%.
 
   In 2016, GWP in the Saudi insurance market reached SAR36.9 billion, up from SAR36.5 billion in 2015. This represents an increase of 1.1%, compared to 19.7% growth in 2015.
 
   Health premiums, accounting for 50.5% of the insurance market, decreased by 1.8% to SAR18.6 billion in 2016, while in 2015 premiums in this class of business increased by 20.3% to SAR19 billion. Motor compulsory and non-compulsory lines of business stood in second place with a 33% share of total GWP.
 
   General insurance GWP, which represented 46.6% of the insurance market, grew by 4.1% to SAR17.2 billion in 2016 compared to an increase in 2015 of 19% to SAR16.5 billion. Protection & savings insurance GWP, which represented 3% of the insurance market, increased by 1.5% to SAR1.05 billion in 2016 compared to an increase in 2015 of 14.5% to SAR1.04 million.
 
   Motor insurance reported the highest loss ratio of 82% among all classes of business last year. The loss ratio in health insurance stood at 78%. Aviation insurance posted the lowest loss ratio of 12%, but with a GWP of SAR140 million, it accounted for less than 1% of total market share.
 
   Insurers’ total assets amounted to SAR57.5 billion at 31 December 2016 compared to SAR54.1 billion at the end of 2015.
 
   In 2016, the top-eight insurers generated 71.9% of the market’s GWP. The remaining 26 insurers included in the report accounted for the remaining 28.2% of total market premiums. M 
 
SAR1 = US$0.26
 
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