The insurance industry provides contracts known as policies to individuals or business entities as a form of financial protection or reimbursement against future losses. Those losses can be bundled under specialized insurance policies, such as health, life, or accident insurances for individuals. For businesses, these policies include cargo or product liability insurance. Generally speaking, the insurance market consists of two main segments: life and non-life insurances.
GCC market structure
The markets of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar represent the biggest insurance markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Non-life insurances are the more significant segment of the insurance industry in this region. Most insurance policies have been adjusted to Islamic law requirements, in the same way as other financial products, to avoid interest-related income.
The insurance penetration rate in the Gulf Cooperation Council region is generally very low. The United Arab Emirates has the highest insurance penetration rate at 2.5 percent. Qatar has the lowest insurance penetration rate at about one percent.
Insurance companies
About 9.7 thousand people are employed in the insurance industry in the United Arab Emirates, closely followed by Saudi Arabia at 9.6 thousand. This is reflected as well in the number of insurance companies operating in the region. The United Arab Emirates houses about 60 insurance companies.
The Gulf Insurance Group Kuwait has the highest return of investment ratio of all insurances in the region with 19.1 percent. The return of investment of Emirates Insurance Co. was only 8.8 percent for the same period.
Company for Cooperative Insurance reached a net written premium of 3.8 billion U.S. dollars for 2022 making it the most valuable insurance company in the region, followed by Bupa Arabia for Co-op Insurance Co. . at 3.7 billion U.S. dollars.
