Islamic Finance

Saudi Islamic insurer Aljazira Takaful Taawuni third-quarter net profit rises 17%


Saudi Arabia’s Aljazira Takaful Taawuni posted 16.56% increase in net profit before zakat for the three months ending September 30 compared to the same period in 2018.

The Islamic insurer reported in a bourse filing on Monday (November 4) 9.16 million riyals ($2.44 million) in net profit compared to 7.86 million riyals for the corresponding quarter last year.

The company attributes the rise to higher net underwriting by 2.16 million riyals.

Gross written premiums decreased by 39.22% to 30.42 million riyals. However, net earned premiums rose 32.69% to 26.83 million riyals while net claims stood at 497,000 riyals, a drop of 25.82%, said the company.

Income from policyholder investments grew by 34.5% to 382,000 riyals and shareholder investment income rose lower, by 10.44% to 2.6 million riyals.

Aljazira Takaful Taawuni in June signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to evaluate a potential merger with Solidarity Saudi Takaful. The MOU will expire upon the signing of the merger agreement or at the end of the first quarter of 2020, whichever is earlier.

Saudi Arabia’s insurance landscape is changing after the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) proposed stricter risk-based capital requirements for firms.

In September, Walaa and MetLife AIG agreed to merge, with the bigger insurer Walaa saying it will increase its capital from 528 million riyals to 646.4 milion riyals.

There are currently 33 insurance and reinsurance companies licensed to operate in Saudi Arabia, according to data from SAMA.

Gross written premiums in 2018 reached 34,920 million riyals ($9.3 billion), down from 36,597 million riyals in 2017, according to SAMA data.

($1 = 3.75 Saudi riyals)

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tags:

Takaful
Earnings