Doha: Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), the leading insurer in Qatar and the Middle East North African (Mena) region, recorded 13 percent year-on-year growth in its Gross Written Premium (GWP) for the first half of 2020 (H1, 2020). The QIC Group’s GWP stood at QR7.2bn for H1, 2020 compared to QR6.4bn in H1 2019, despite these challenging market conditions.
The growth was predominately driven by the rate hardening in select international insurance markets and continued expansion of QIC’s domestic personal lines business with stable underwriting profits.
Following a meeting, which was presided over by Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani, Chairman and Managing Director, QIC’s Board of Directors approved the Group’s H1 2020 financial results.
The company said that it’s first half of 2020 was adversely impacted by the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on global economies and financial markets. Furthermore, QIC successfully issued a $300m perpetual subordinated Tier 2 capital notes in the second quarter of 2020.
However, the underwriting performance of QIC’s international carriers, namely, Qatar Re, Antares, QIC Europe Limited (QEL) and its Gibraltar based carriers was impacted by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown imposed on certain markets. Despite prevailing headwinds, QIC’s international carriers continued the successful realignment of its book of business by expanding in select low volatile businesses while de-risking its exposure to high severity classes.
Today QIC’s international business continues to account for 75 percent of the Group’s total Gross Written Premiums, contributing significantly to the Group’s diversification of its underwriting footprint. In H1 2020, QIC’s domestic and Mena operations continued to drive forward the digitization of its personal lines business, cementing its position in the regional markets.
In fact, during the imposed lockdown, QIC’s personal insurance division - QIC Insured and QIC’s Life & Medical insurance arm, QLM Life & Medical Insurance Co. capitalized on its digital capabilities and continued to manage distribution of its products and claims handling services through its sophisticated digital platforms.
The move was further supported by strong demand for online products & services, as reflected by the company’s double-digit growth in its sales volume. In light of the prevailing turbulence in global financial markets, QIC’s investment portfolio achieved a net investment result of QR152m in H1 2020 compared to QR464m in H1 2019.
During the reporting period, QIC’s continued endeavour towards process efficiencies and automation showed results as the Group further improved its already exceptional operational efficiency with a healthy administrative expense ratio for its core operations of 5.7 percent during the first half of 2020 as compared to 6.1 percent in H1 2019. Overall, the consolidated net loss of the Group for H1 2020 stood at QR198m.
Commenting on the financial performance for H1 2020, Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey, Group President of QIC Group, said: “QIC Group benefits from its very strong and robust risk-based capital adequacy in combination with the scale and diversification of our business portfolio. We are encouraged by the resilience that the QIC Group demonstrated in these unprecedented times. While consumers and businesses in most of the key economies worldwide were in lockdown, we accomplished to grow our book of business by applying the set underwriting discipline and using efficiently our strong digital platforms. Furthermore, we successfully issued $300m perpetual notes in a very volatile market environment. Both are a testament to the strengths of our brand and the confidence of our clients and investors in QIC Group.”
