The UAE insurance market maintained its momentum in 2021, posting another year of strong premium growth, analysis from AM Best showed.
A new Best’s Market Segment Report, ‘Overall Profits for United Arab Emirates-Listed Insurers Grew in 2021 as Underwriting Earnings Fell’, examined the preliminary disclosures of the national insurers listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market.
The report revealed that while the market has been resilient to ongoing challenging macroeconomic conditions and intense competition, testing market conditions remain and the marginal net profit growth noted for the period was dependent on a recovery in investment earnings.
Shareholders’ equity for the UAE-listed insurers increased by 10.4% to reach AED19.8bn ($5.4bn) at the end of December 2021, up from AED18bn as at year-end 2020, compared with an increase in shareholders’ equity of just 3.9% in the previous year.
This was despite marginal growth in net profit, indicating that companies distributed a lower level of dividends in 2021. Overall, companies in the UAE are well-capitalised and have the capacity to accommodate additional underwriting risk. M