Qatar Insurance Company (QIC Group) posted a net profit of QR175mn in the first quarter of 2023. Following a meeting of QIC Board of Directors Saturday, which was presided by its chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani Jassim al-Thani, the Board approved the financial results.
Sheikh Hamad stated: “QIC’s strategic emphasis on expanding direct and personal lines business within domestic and MENA markets showcases its worth. In this context, QIC Groups’ subsidiary Oman Qatar Insurance Company (OQIC) and Vision Insurance Company completed a successful merger to capitalise on the region’s profitability potential.
“Simultaneously, our persistent endeavours to minimise exposure to high severity and volatile international risks are yielding positive results this quarter. Despite ongoing market challenges stemming from inflation and geopolitical unrest, these strategic objectives have positioned QIC for robust growth and underwriting profitability in Q1, 2023. “Furthermore, we take immense pride in QIC’s distinguishing brand attributes, such as advanced technological prowess and outstanding operational efficiency. These qualities set us apart and empower us to deliver highly valued, reliable risk protection services to customers across the Middle East, Europe, and international insurance markets.”
Group Chief Executive Officer Salem Khalaf al-Mannai said: “In the first quarter of 2023, the rising interest rate environment slowed as inflationary trajectories showed signs of improvement. In accordance with our set strategy, we have now successfully exited from the high severity, low margin and loss-making international risks. “The group has also succeeded in completely exiting from the natural disaster insurance portfolio in the American market, which ensures the cessation of loss-making businesses and positively reflects on the profitability of our insurance activities. This has been reflected in the growth of the group’s net insurance service results to reach profits of QR276mn compared to loss of QR83mn (restated)in the previous period.
“This achievement reflects the success of one of the main pillars of the group’s strategy. Amid these circumstances, QIC’s international operations – encompassing the brands Antares Re, Antares Lloyds Syndicate and QIC Europe Ltd, also profited from rate hardening and tighter conditions and started to show healthy underwriting profits during this quarter.” “As we maintain our strategic focus on expanding our profitable direct-line insurance markets throughout the GCC, QIC once again witnessed a strong performance from its primary insurance business in its domestic and Mena operations. Our operations continued to impress with strong underwriting profitability benefiting from our highly efficient and automated digital sales channels. QIC remains committed to fostering the growth and development of the direct insurance vertical in the region by leveraging its position as a leader in the digitalisation of personal lines and other select lines of business.” Mannai further stated that “In line with the global insurance reporting standards, during Q1, 2023 QIC Group and its subsidiaries successfully adopted the new IFRS 17 accounting standard, which will be a major transformation for the entire insurance industry. QIC Group is the first insurance company in the region to report its consolidated financial statements in IFRS 17”.
In light of the improving market conditions, QIC reported an insurance revenue of QR1.3bn for Q1. Premium volume benefitted from a 7% increase in the GWP of QIC’s domestic and Mena operations to QR913mn, accounting for 38% of QIC’s overall operations. Aided by QIC’s highly efficient and automated digital sales channels, the business contributed strong underwriting profitability to QIC’s results.
