Qatar: Listed insurers show mixed financial performance in 2023
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2024
Qatar’s listed insurance companies posted a combined net loss of QAR360m ($99m) for the financial year ended 31 December 2023, according to annual financial statements lodged by the companies with the Qatar Stock Exchange.
The figure represents a contraction of 73.1% from the aggregate net loss of QAR1,339m reported for 2022.
The sector consists of seven insurers, namely, Qatar Insurance (QIC), Doha Insurance, QLM Life and Health Insurance, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance (QGIR), Qatar Islamic Insurance, Damaan Islamic Insurance and Al Khaleej Takaful Insurance.
QIC turned around its financial performance to report profits in 2023 while QGIR saw wider net losses. The other five insurers posted increases in net profits.
QIC managed to turn around its financial performance to net profits of QAR601m in 2023 from losses of QAR1.2bn in 2022. The reason for this is that the group reported extraordinary losses of QAR1bn in 2022 from discontinued international operations.
QGIR widened its net losses in 2023 because of an increase in unrealised losses to QAR1.6bn. QGIR chairman Sheikh Khalifa Al-Thani, attributed the unrealised losses to the revaluation of investment properties and the reclassification of the group’s investments in Algeria. These investments were reclassified as investments in associates to financial assets valued at fair value. The group has adopted IFRS17 since January 2023. M