UAE insurance industry report - Preliminary 2019

The UAE insurance market continued its trend for a third consecutive year with an overall increase in profitability along with premium growth in 2019. Based on the preliminary disclosures and audited reports of the UAE insurance companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market, the Gross Written Premium grew by 8.3% to AED 23.7 billion during 2019 following a small increase in 2018. The increase in premium was primarily due to movements between listed and non-listed insurers. Net Profit has shown a 22.1% increase to AED 1,612 million during 2019 compared to 2.8% in 2018. This is primarily driven by higher investment returns. In addition, the 2018 profits were lower for some companies due to one-off provisioning for IFRS 9 that has inflated the increase in year on year comparison. On a net profit basis, the industry continued to improve for the third year in a row, achieving a net profit of AED 1,612 million for 2019 compared to a net profit of AED 1,320 million in 2018, an increase of 22.1%.