The proposed Insurance Authority (IA) is expected draft the National Strategy for the Insurance Sector to be in line with other National Strategies such as National Investment Strategy (NIS), and other programmes within Vision 2030 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), according to insights provided by the global law firm Clyde & Co.
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has licensed two new insurance aggregators, taking the number of such authorised companies to five in total.
S&P Global Ratings (S&P) says that it believes the Saudi insurance market is still underinsured compared to global markets, with an insurance penetration rate below 2%, and therefore has strong growth prospects over the near-to-medium term.
Saudi Arabia's General Department of Traffic has announced that the electronic monitoring of motor insurance violations will commence on 1 October 2023.
Motor insurance premium rates are expected to fall shortly, says Mr Adel Al-Essa, the spokesman for the insurance sector.
The Official Gazette has published the details of the "Regulation of the Insurance Authority" in Saudi Arabia, in its issue dated 25 August 2023. The Regulation, approved earlier by the Council of Ministers, comes into force 90 days after this publication date.
Fitch Ratings says in a statement that it has upgraded The Company for Cooperative Insurance's (Tawuniya) Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating to 'A' from 'A-'. Simultaneously, Fitch has upgraded Tawuniya's National IFS Rating to 'AAA(sau)' from 'AA+(sau)'. The outlooks are 'Stable'.
Kuwait-headquartered Gulf Insurance Group "GIG" has announced that it had obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA) to add the protection and savings insurance activity to its licence in the kingdom.
The establishment of an independent insurance authority tasked with regulating and supervising the insurance sector in Saudi Arabia is expected to enhance the sector's efficiency, and increase its contribution to the non-oil GDP and adherence to the latest global trends in the industry, Mr Ayman Al-Sayari, governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), has said.
The Council of Ministers, which is Saudi Arabia's Cabinet, has approved the establishment of an insurance authority to regulate and supervise the insurance sector.