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Sep 2022

News


MENA

Middle East: JENOA adopts flood risk in the region

Boutique digital broker JENOA Insurance & Risk Management has adopted global flood maps from RMS to provide an analytical view of flood risk in the Middle East.
 


GCC: UAE and Saudi insurance markets forecast to grow by at least 5% this year

S&P Global Ratings has forecast that gross premiums in the UAE will grow by approximately 5% and the Saudi insurance market will see GWP increase by 5-10% in 2022.
 


Egypt: Motor insurers eyeing 10% increase in premium income

The Egyptian Compulsory Vehicle Insurance Pool is working to help motor insurers meet the target of EGP1.3bn ($67.9m) in premium income in the current financial year ending 20 June 2023 (FY2023). This represents a targeted growth rate of 10%.
 


Lebanon: Insurance regulatory reform in limbo because of political deadlock

The implementation of insurance reform in Lebanon, such as the move to a risk-based solvency framework and new governance guidelines, which have been in the pipeline for a few years, remains stagnant despite significant pressure from industry stakeholders including the Insurance Control Commission (ICC), said AM Best.
 


Morocco: Insurers' counterparty risk remains under control

The counterparty risk of insurers in Morocco is under control, according to the central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, in its annual Financial Stability Report for 2021.
 


Qatar: QIC Group net profit rises 14% to $110m in 1H2022

Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) has registered a net profit of QAR401m ($110m) for the first half of 2022, up 14.2% from QAR351m posted for the corresponding half last year, despite challenges in the global environment.
 


Saudi Arabia: Insurers required to pay small motor third-party liability claims within 5 working days

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has instructed insurance companies to settle claims by individuals for motor third-party liability within five working days if the value of the claim does not exceed SAR2,000 ($533).
 


Saudi Arabia: CMA greenlights Walaa's capital increase for merger with SABB Takaful

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the request from Walaa Insurance to increase its capital to SAR850.58m ($226.8m) from SAR646.39m by issuing 20.42m ordinary shares.
 


Turkiye: Regulator seeks structural solution for motor third-party insurance branch

The insurance regulator has met the top management of 26 insurance companies in a bid to resolve recent problems that have surfaced in compulsory motor third-party liability insurance (dubbed ‘traffic insurance’) in Turkiye.
 


UAE: DIFC Insurance Association enters new era with leadership changes

As post-COVID recovery continues worldwide, the DIFC Insurance Association (DIFCIA) is set to enter its next stage of evolution and embrace the future with ‘DIFCIA 2.0’.
 


UAE: Goverenment launches website for owners of vehicles damaged in floods

The Ministry of Interior has launched a website for car owners in Fujairah to facilitate the filing of incident reports for their vehicles that were damaged by the recent devastating floods.
 


Global

Global: Reinsurance M&A stalls amid macroeconomic risks, volatile claims

M&A transactions in the global reinsurance sector will be limited into 2023 amid investor concerns over macroeconomic risks and heightened catastrophe losses linked to climate change, Fitch Ratings (Fitch) said in a recent report.
 


Global: Poor claims experiences could put up to $170bn of global insurance premiums at risk by 2027

Up to $170bn of insurance premiums could be at risk in the next five years due to poor claims experiences, with process inefficiencies in underwriting potentially costing the industry another $160bn over the same period, according to a new report titled ‘Why AI in Insurance Claims and Underwriting?’ from Accenture.
 


Global: Commercial insurance industry under growing pressure from economic uncertainty, ESG activism and deglobalisation

A new report from KPMG has revealed that the world’s commercial insurance industry is performing well but faces a number of increasing pressures that threaten its long-term sustainability.
 


Takaful

GCC: Takaful operators continue to suffer from intense competition

The Gulf region’s ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred by higher hydrocarbon prices, government spending on infrastructure projects and increasing activity in the non-oil sector will support Islamic insurers’ growth prospects with expectations for gross written contributions to expand about 10% in 2022 and 5%-10% in 2023, said S&P in a recent ratings direct report.
 


Egypt: Contributions leap by 108% in 1H2022

The gross contributions that Egypt’s 10 takaful operators have generated in the first half of 2022 reached EGP4.54bn ($237m) against EGP2.18bn achieved in the same period last year, representing a growth rate of 108.2% compared to the 13.1% growth rate for the whole market and 3.8% for conventional insurers, according to the Financial Regulatory Authority’s monthly data.
 


Saudi Arabia: SAMA approves merger between SABB Takaful and Walaa

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has approved the merger of SABB Takaful and Walaa Cooperative Insurance (Walaa), according to statements lodged by the two companies with Tadawul last month.
 


Turkiye: Takaful contributions soar by 109% in 1H2022

The total contributions generated by participation insurance or takaful in Turkiye increased by 109.1% to TRY4.96bn ($276.4m) in 1H2022, compared to the corresponding half of last year, outstripping the market’s 93% growth rate where GWP reached TRY90.9bn, according to statistics from the Insurance Association of Turkiye. Taking inflation into account, the insurance market expanded by 8%, reported Sigorta Medya.
 


UAE: Dar Al Takaful announces 1H2022 results

Dar Al Takaful (DAT) reported its interim financial results for the first half of 2022 which showed that gross written contributions went down marginally by 4.4% to AED401.4m ($109.3M) in 1H2022 from AED420m generated in the same period of the past year, with aggressive deleveraging and de-risking measures implemented, DAT announced last month.