Qatar Insurance Group has announced solid financial results for the full year 2017 having ‘successfully weathered severe headwinds from record global natural catastrophe losses and unexpected political challenges in the region’.
The Group has reported robust growth and resilient profitability in the financial year ended 31 December, 2017.
Throughout the reporting period, QIC Group continued to expand steadily and systematically across its global and regional target markets, lines of business and client segments, recording Gross Written Premiums (GWP) of USD3.2 billion, an increase of 18 per cent compared with 2016. Once more, the Group’s key growth engines were Qatar Re, Antares and QIC Europe Limited (QEL) which now account for approximately 75 per cent of the Group’s total GWP.
Domestically, Q Life and Medical Insurance Company (QLM), the dominant life and medical insurance company in Qatar added buoyancy to the Group’s overall performance.
QIC Group’s consolidated net profit for the full year 2017 came in at USD115 million, compared to USD284 million for the same period of the previous year. Since 5 June, 2017 when the regional diplomatic stand-off began, Qatar’s key stock market index has shed about 17 per cent of its value. Despite these political and other unrelated economic turbulences in the Middle East, QIC Group’s net investment result amounted to USD248 million in 2017, up 11.3 per cent year-on-year, further adding to a long track record of superior investment performance based on a careful diversification across geographies and asset classes. As a testament, in 2017, QIC was conferred the “Top Investment House from the MENA region” accolade by a publication and survey of global repute.
The Group’s continued endeavour towards managing expenses showed additional results as the administrative expense ratio for its core operations declined from 8 per cent in 2016 to 7 per cent in 2017.
The overall non-life combined ratio stood at 105.8 per cent, up from 98.0 per cent. The Group’s core combined ratio, excluding catastrophes, came in at 99 per cent, compared with 98 per cent in the previous year, testifying to QIC’s underlying technical profitability.
As of 31 December, 2017, QIC Group’s shareholders’ equity stood at USD2.2 billion.
Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey, Group President & CEO of QIC Group, says: “In the face of unprecedented market adversity, QIC has proven its resilience and maintained its leading position across the MENA region. At the same time, we have continued to expand our global footprint, positioning us well for any market hardening going forward.
“QIC reaffirms its vision to develop into a global top 50 insurance group. In this endeavour, our focus on sustainable and profitable growth, based on underwriting and investment management excellence, in combination with superior cost-efficiency, will remain unchanged.”
