As the leading insurer for individual and corporate clients, Oman Insurance Company recorded Gross Written Premiums of AED 3.7 billion for the full-year 2018, making the Company the largest insurer in the UAE once again.
Oman Insurance Underwriting profitability increased by 12%(*) compared to last year reflecting a prudent risk selection and pricing, an effective risk diversification as well as a strong top line. While the overall premium was unchanged versus last year, the Employee Benefits division had a strong 10% growth supported by a balanced and profitable portfolio in spite of the very competitive market environment.
Oman Insurance has also increased its solvency ratio above 170%, its highest solvency of the past 4 years, which confirms the Company’s very strong ability to meet its policyholders’ obligations. The strengthening of the solvency is notably the result of an efficient cash collection, resulting in a reduction of more than 50% of the net receivables and an increase of the free cash flow of over AED 400m, as well as reserves strengthening.
As far as the reserves strengthening are concerned, Oman Insurance has implemented new accounting principles (IFRS 9) that allows to implement a cautious and forward looking provisioning. These new accounting principles on top of one-off proactive measures to notably bolster the claim reserving have impacted the net income standing at AED 10,1 million in 2018. While this number is very much below Oman Insurance’s normalized level of net income, it allows to strengthen the balance sheet and future earnings.
In addition to these achievements, Oman Insurance has continued to implement leaner and cost effective processes while remaining obsessed with providing a superior quality of service to corporate and individual clients. In that regard, in 2018, 80% of clients declared to be Satisfied or Very Satisfied with Oman Insurance’s services, further setting the company apart from the competition in term of quality and customer experience.
Commenting on the results, Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Insurance said: “I am very proud of the exceptional work of the teams: despite the very competitive environment, we have been able to grow several of our lines of business, reaching the highest level of premiums for a company in the UAE at AED 3,7 billion, while improving our underwriting results. The drastic reduction of our receivables and the strong increase of our free cash flow, coupled with proactive measures to strengthen our reserves have not only materially increased our solvency but will also allow us to start 2019 in a very strong position. With a goal to become the preferred insurance choice in the region, the fact that Oman Insurance has now 80% of its customers being satisfied or very satisfied of its services is another testimony of the dedication of our teams.”
The published figures underscore Oman Insurance’s position as a leader in the regional insurance sector with an extremely sound financial position. The Company is rated ‘A Excellent’ by AM Best and ‘A- Stable Outlook’ by Standard & Poor’s and total assets at the end of year 2018 stood at AED 6.82 billion.
(*) Prior one-off past claims reserving
