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Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) Group, the leading insurer in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region on Tuesday reported solid financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017.
The Group continued to expand across its global and regional target markets, lines of business and client segments, recording gross written premiums (GWP) of QR11.7 billion, an increase of 18 percent compared with 2016, QIC announced in a press statement on Tuesday.
The Group reported consolidated net profit of QR418 million for 2017, compared to QR1.03 billion for the same period of the previous year.
Once more, the Group's key growth engines were Qatar Re, Antares and QIC Europe Limited (QEL) which now account for approximately 75 percent of the Group's total GWP.
As a globally diversified insurance group, QIC successfully weathered severe headwinds from record global natural catastrophe losses and unexpected political challenges in the region, the statement added.
Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin ali al Thani, QIC Chairman & Managing Director, and the board of directors approved the financial results.
QIC said,"The year 2017 has been a challenging year for the global insurance industry due to the exceptional natural catastrophe events impacting the US namely Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM) windstorms. The impact has been exaggerated due to sequential nature of the windstorms that caused a total industry loss of up to $100 billion."
The other major event that adversely impacted insurers operating in the UK insurance market, where QIC Group also had exposure through its international operations, was the sharp and unexpected reduction of the Ogden discount rate in the UK in the first quarter in 2017, which forced the insurers to increase their loss reserves. The industry-wide impact of Ogden was estimated to be around $10 billion increase in loss reserves.
OIC said,"The above mentioned unprecedented losses are well within QIC's risk appetite and tolerance limits. The combined impact was only an earnings event and did not affect QIC Group's solvency from a regulatory, ratings or internal capital adequacy point of view."
Khalifa Abdulla Turki al Subaey, Group President and CEO of QIC Group said,"In the face of almost unprecedented market adversity, QIC has proven its resilience and maintained its leading position across the MENA region. At the same time, we have continued to expand our global footprint, positioning us well for any market hardening going forward."
He added,"QIC reaffirms its vision to develop into a Global Top 50 Insurance Group. In this endeavor, our focus on sustainable and profitable growth, based on underwriting and investment management excellence, in combination with superior cost-efficiency, will remain unchanged."
Against this adverse backdrop, QIC Group generated a net underwriting result of QR115 million in 2017, down by 86 percent compared with the previous year.
In the local market, Q Life and Medical Insurance Company (QLM), the dominant life and medical insurance company in Qatar added buoyancy to the Group's overall performance.
Despite political and other unrelated economic turbulences in the Middle East, QIC Group's investment income and other income amounted to QR986 million in 2017 compared to QR925 million in 2016, further adding to a long track record of superior investment performance based on a careful diversification across geographies and asset classes.
As a testament, in 2017, QIC was conferred the"Top Investment House from the MENA region" accolade by a publication and survey of global repute.
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24/01/2018
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