After the stress of the April 2024 rains, the UAE insurance industry continued its recovery path in the first half of 2025, building on the strong performance recorded in the first quarter, according to Badri Consultancy Management.
The international actuarial and risk consultancy said this in its report titled “Insurance Industry Performance Preliminary Analysis – H1 2025”.
The report said, “Supported by sustained premium rate increases and improved risk-based pricing, industry insurance revenue grew by 19%, reaching AED24.2bn [$6.6bn] (1H2024: AED20.3bn). This reflects the continuation of favourable underwriting conditions across the major business lines, particularly Motor and Medical, which remain the primary drivers of earned premium growth.”
Insurance service result and profits
Total insurance service result improved sharply by 54% to AED1.6bn in 1H2025, rising from AED1.1bn in the corresponding half of 2024. The improvement was due to higher earned premiums and disciplined underwriting. The industry’s profitability has strengthened accordingly, with net profit increasing by 54% to AED2.0bn in 1H2025 (1H2024: AED1.3bn).
The leading five companies—The National Insurance Company-Daman, Orient Insurance, Abu Dhabi National Insurance, Sukoon Insurance and Dubai Insurance—continued to consolidate their position, accounting for AED1.3bn of the overall insurance service result, up 31% from the prior year. This increasing concentration underlines the growing importance of scale and operational efficiency in the UAE market, the report said.
It added, “Encouragingly, the proportion of industry profits associated with insurance service results has remained high at around 80%, further highlighting the shift towards core underwriting profitability rather than investment-driven earnings.”
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has been putting pressure on companies that fail to meet solvency requirements. Badri recently saw some companies announcing capital increases—Fidelity United being the most recent one—and a foreign branch announcing it was going into runoff.
What’s next
The report said, “Looking ahead, gradual rate improvements coupled with the CBUAE’s enhanced market oversight are expected to continue supporting technical margins and discourage underpriced policies. However, insurers need to remain cautious of potential rises in reinsurance costs and deferred impacts of treaty renewals.
“With a greater proportion of profitability stemming from insurance services, the industry’s long-term sustainability will increasingly depend on maintaining underwriting discipline and strengthening claims management practices.”
To download the complete report, please click on this link.