GCC: Growth in earnings of listed insurers muted by Saudi market downturn in 1H2025
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Oct 2025
While total net profit across 76 listed GCC insurers held steady at $1.2bn in 1H2025, the overall performance was weighed down by Saudi insurers, who saw profits decline by 40.3%, with only six out of 25 recording higher earnings, according to a report by research and consulting firm Insurance Monitor and Lux Actuaries and Consultants.
Insurance Monitor in its latest “Performance Periodical”, analysing listed insurers’ performance the first half of this year, said that the downturn in Saudi Arabia (KSA) was driven by a sharp deterioration in motor underwriting performance where the Net Combined Ratio (NCR) surged to 106% from 91% in 1H 2024, coupled with lower investment returns amid equity market volatility.
In contrast, both the UAE and Oman rebounded with solid underwriting performance, following rate recalibrations in 2H2024 and a relatively benign claims environment in 1H2025. This translated into a reduction of 3.4 and 15.4 percentage points in NCRs, respectively.
Of the 33 insurers across these two markets, only seven reported lower profits pointing to a broad-based underwriting recovery.
The report said, despite challenges in certain markets, top-line growth continued across the region, averaging 8.1%, with a significant majority of the 76 listed insurers covered in the analysis recording higher revenues in 1H2025. M