Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focused insurer, experienced a 13% growth in Gross Written Premium in the first half of 2020, reaching QAR 7.2 billion ($1.9 billion).
This 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.
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.
In light of the prevailing turbulence in global financial markets, QIC’s investment portfolio achieved a net investment result of QAR 152 million ($41 million) in H1 2020 compared to QAR 464 million ($127 million) in H1 2019.
Commenting on the financial performance for H1 2020, Mr. Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey, Group President of QIC Group stated, “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 USD 300 million 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.”
