Dubai Insurance Company (DIN) has a strong record of underwriting profitability, reporting a net insurance service result of AED108m ($29.4m) in 2024 (2023: AED123m) and a combined ratio of 91% (86%) under IFRS 17, notes Fitch Ratings.
The insurer’s investment portfolio has also contributed to the overall result, and DIN has reported a consistently strong return on equity. DIN writes significant volumes through its expanding workers' protection programme (WPP) and involuntary loss of employment (ILOE) schemes. Fitch expects both schemes to contribute significantly to profitability.
The global credit rating agency has affirmed DIN’s Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating at 'A'. The Outlook is ‘Stable.’
DIN's rating reflects the company's strong franchise in the UAE insurance market, very strong capitalisation and financial performance, but also fairly large exposure to equities in the investment portfolio.
Apart from the insurer’s profitability track record, other factors driving DIN’s ratings include:
Strong Franchise in UAE: DIN is a general insurance company writing AED3.0bn of insurance revenue in 2024 (2023: AED2.2bn). This makes it the fourth-largest listed insurer in the UAE by gross written premiums (GWP), albeit much smaller than the three largest insurers. The company is well-diversified by business lines, writing a mix of personal and commercial lines business, including significant revenue from government contracts.
Government Scheme Consortium Leader: A large portion of GWP in 2024 came from government insurance schemes through the WPP and ILOE products for which DIN is the leader of the consortium. As leader of the consortium, DIN benefits from pool-management fees and ceding commissions alongside its net retentions.
The company also launched the Northern Emirates Medical Plan on 1 January 2025, also underwritten by a pool. In addition, DIN launched tourist visa travel inbound insurance for visitors to Dubai. Both schemes are expected to increase top-line growth and profitability.
Very Strong Capitalisation: Fitch views DIN's capitalisation and leverage as a rating strength. Based on Fitch's Prism Global model, capitalisation is assessed as 'Extremely Strong'. On a regulatory basis, under the Central Bank of the UAE's (CBUAE) methodology, the company had a very strong regulatory capital ratio of 157% at end-2024 (end-2023: 178%), which improved to 171% at end-3Q2025. DIN has no financial leverage in its capital structure.
Investments Exposed to Equities: DIN has a fairly large exposure to equity investments at 38% of its investment portfolio at end-2024 (end-2023: 38%). Cash and bank deposits are a further 53% of the investment portfolio so the overall portfolio is highly liquid, although DIN also has a 5% exposure to real estate investments in the portfolio. The company's Fitch-calculated risky-assets/capital ratio was 80% at end-2024 (end-2023: 75%), with risky assets almost entirely comprising equities.
High Reinsurance Utilisation: DIN makes significant use of reinsurance across all lines of business, with a net premium written to gross premium written ratio of 40%. The panel of reinsurers includes large globally diversified reinsurers, with several programmes led by large globally diversified reinsurance groups. Most reinsurers on the panels are of good credit quality, although DIN also has some exposure to lower-rated local reinsurers in the region.
Best Estimate Reserving: DIN adopts a best-estimate reserving philosophy, with reserves held in line with the external actuarial valuation. DIN receives regular valuations of its reserves from an external appointed actuary, SHMA Consulting. In addition, external auditors also review the reserving position as part of the annual audit, and the company is subject to regulatory audits from the CBUAE.