Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) has maintained a stable net profit of $184 million over 2019, but its underwriting performance suffered due to major catastrophe losses and changes to the Ogden discount rate, which caused the company’s combined ratio to slip to 103.3%.
Net profit compared with $182 million in the previous year, while the combined ratio was 101.3%.
The Group’s net underwriting result, in contrast, fell by 38% to $98 million, compared with $158 million in 2018.
QIC said that its operations benefited from a strategic allocation of capacity into lower volatility and higher frequency risks, as well as the digitisation of its direct insurance business in the MENA region.
However, performance was hit by catastrophe losses related to Typhoons Faxai and Hagibis in Q3 and Q4, as well as reserve increases due to the decision of the UK government to revise the Ogden discount rate to minus 0.25%.
Mild growth was reported in gross written premiums, improving by 2% to $3.5 billion, particularly in the company’s core markets in the MENA region.
MENA operations reported gross written premiums of $832 million in 2019 compared to $796 million in 2018 and continued to benefit from stronger economic growth and diversification in the region.
For international business, gross written premiums were $2.70 billion, compared to $2.67 billion in 2018.
“In 2019, QIC Group was particularly pleased with the strong and profitable premium growth that we enjoyed in our core markets in the MENA region,” said QIC Group President Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey.
“At the same time the integration of our international business; Qatar Re, Antares, QIC Europe (QEL) and the Gibraltar based insurance companies, is progressing on target,” he continued. “These developments reflect the success of our efforts to refocus our underwriting capacity on risks with a more favorable risk-return ratio, namely, our short-tail, personal lines business.”
“Moreover, in the MENA region, we are spearheading the digitization of our industry, thereby increasing our operational efficiency while strengthening our client relationships.”
Looking at investment income, QIC reported $298 million in 2019, improving on the $237 million reported in 2018 despite heightened global market volatility due to ongoing trade wars and geopolitical tensions.
