Abu Dhabi, UAE – The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has said that the UAE insurance sector continued to grow in Q3 2023, as reflected by the increase in the number of insurance policies in line with the increase in the gross written premiums (GWP).
In its report, CBUAE stated that by the end of Q3 2023, the number of licensed insurance companies in the UAE remained at 60. The sector comprised 23 traditional national companies, 10 Takaful national and 27 foreign companies. The number of insurance-related professions remained at 491 at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
GWP increased by 14.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) at the end of Q3 2023 to $11.4 billion mostly due to an increase in health insurance premiums by 22.6 percent YoY, and an increase in property and liability insurance premiums by 13.7 percent YoY.
Gross paid claims of all types of insurance plans increased by 23.5 percent YoY to $6.3 billion at the end of September 2023. This was mainly driven by the increase in claims paid in property and liability insurance by 9.6 percent, health insurance by 22 percent, and in insurance of persons and fund accumulation by 11.1 percent YoY.
The report added that the total technical provisions of all types of insurance increased by 9 percent YoY to $20.4 billion at the end of September 2023 compared to $18.7 billion a year ago.
The volume of invested assets of the insurance sector amounted to $20.2 billion (56.5 percent of total assets) by the end of Q3 2023 compared to $19.7 billion (61.1 percent of total assets) at the end of September 2022.
The retention ratio of written insurance premiums for all types of insurance reached 52.5 percent (or $6 billion) at the end of September 2023, compared to 51.2 percent (or $5.1 billion) a year earlier.
The UAE insurance sector remained well-capitalized in terms of early warning ratios.
CBUAE reported that own funds to minimum capital requirement ratio increased to 349.8 percent at the end of Q3 2023, compared to 325 percent a year earlier, due to an increase in own funds eligible to meet the minimum capital requirements.
Similarly, own funds to solvency capital requirement ratio rose to 207.3 percent at the end of September 2023 compared to 203.6 percent at the end of Q3 2022, due to an increase in own funds eligible to meet solvency capital requirements.
Meanwhile, the own funds to minimum guarantee fund (MGF) ratio reached 310.6 percent at the end of Q3 2023 down from 323.1 percent at the end of September 2022, due to MGF increasing more than the increase in own funds.
In terms of profitability, the net total profit to net written premiums increased to 12.1 percent at the end of Q3 2023, compared to 8.4 percent a year earlier.
The return on average assets increased to 0.6 percent at the end of September 2023, compared to 0.4 percent at the end of Q3 2022.