Insurance
From The Report: Abu Dhabi 2016
View in Online Reader

With a total of 60 insurers in the UAE, including 34 locally incorporated companies and 26 foreign branches, federal authorities have increasingly sought to promote consolidation in the nation’s growing insurance market. According to the Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi, financial and insurance activities were a significant contributor to the emirate’s economic growth in 2014, expanding by 27.1%. Takaful represented a particular growth driver not just in the UAE but across the region, with gross written premiums in the GCC’s takaful market growing at an 11.8% compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2014 to reach $8.9bn. Meanwhile, there were 3.3m active health insurance members in Abu Dhabi in 2013 according to Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, more than the entire population, meaning that the emirate has achieved its goal of universal coverage.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

At a crossroads: Despite challenges, the industry has recorded double-digit growth in premiums in recent years
OBG
plus

Now entering its 10th year of mandatory health insurance legislation, Abu Dhabi’s insurance sector is at something of a crossroads. Although penetration is rising and the industry’s gross written premiums (GWPs) have recorded double-digit growth in recent years, loss ratios have deteriorated over the same period, the industry recorded some of its worst underwriting losses to date in 2014, and companies remain highly reliant on reinsurance. An overcrowded and increasingly competitive environment…

Analysis

A new era: Recent regulations are likely to lead to consolidation
OBG
plus

In a bid to strengthen the insurance sector and promote industry consolidation, the UAE Insurance Authority (IA) recently introduced new financial regulations for underwriters, aimed at improving solvency, technical provisions and accounting practices, and setting new investment and minimum capital requirements. These reforms will bring the sector further in line with international standards. Reform Process On December 28, 2014 the IA announced it had finished a three-year review of comprehensive…