Qatar's QIC Group nine month net profit jumps 445% to $125mln

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Doha, Qatar: Qatar Insurance Company (“QIC Group”, “QIC”), the leading insurer in Qatar and the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, has reported net profits of QR453m for the first nine months of 2023, rising 445% from the same period in 2022. Following a meeting of the Board of Directors yesterday, which was presided by Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani Jasim Al Thani, Chairman of QIC Group, the Board approved the financial results.

Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal Al Thani, Chairman of QIC Group, stated: “Amidst macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, QIC has continued to perform successfully, which is reflected in the bottom-line results for Q3 2023. Profitability has continued to increase company-wide, with results outperforming both H1 2023 and Q3 2022, with substantial growth has been experienced in our core business activities in MENA. The company has strengthened its position despite sector challenges tied to international unrest and inflation by continuing to reduce its activity in low-margin and high volatility markets.

We continue to pride ourselves on what establishes us as insurance leaders in the region, which is our outstanding operational efficiency and central sustainable initiatives. As we enter Q4 2023, QIC is dedicated to supplying cutting-edge, innovative, and stable insurance products across several geographical markets, as well as continuing to provide first-class customer service.”

Salem Khalaf Al Mannai, Group Chief Executive Officer, stated: “Q3 2023 has marked a continuation of the strategy put in place to ensure QIC would carry on expanding its primary insurance business, as well as improving its already exceptional operational efficiency. Regarding risk mitigation in what is a challenging global climate, the company has continued to withdraw from low margin and volatile markets to ensure the business remains stable. This strategy has resulted in considerable success, demonstrating its viability with 14% growth in Domestic and MENA Operations Gross Written Premiums to QR2.7bn in the first 9 months of 2023, compared to QR2.4bn for the same period last year. Considering this, we maintain a positive outlook for the remaining quarter of 2023. In the months coming and beyond, we remain committed to expanding our direct insurance offer in the region and making significant advancements in process efficiencies and automation.” Al Mannai also went on to say that “we also remain committed to Qatar’s aim to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 25 % by 2030, which is part of a sustainability philosophy that we view as vital to our company. QIC has set out a long-term Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy to support Qatar’s commitments and has formed an ESG & Sustainability Committee to ensure efforts within this framework are group wide.”

While much of 2023 has been affected by global economic and financial uncertainty, recently there have been more encouraging signs. US and UK interest rates stabilized in September and persistent but slowing inflation marked a notable improvement compared to the same period last year.

With regards to QIC’s key business lines and areas of operation, probably the most challenging has been the UK motor insurance market, which is still feeling the effects of inflation, as well as pressures regarding energy prices and Brexit-influenced supply chain difficulties, and we expect to have less exposure in this sector.

QIC also continued to execute on its strategy of moving away from high-volatile and high-risk markets to strengthen its position in a time of rising capital costs by halting underwriting of loss-making and low-margin business lines.

In these market conditions, QIC reported Gross written premiums of QR7bn for the first nine months of 2023, compared to QR7.8Bn for the same period in 2022.

In addition, QIC’s performance in the MENA region has been exceptional - embodying the continued growth we expect to see in the region over the coming months and years.

Global financial markets battled against difficulties in early 2023, primarily tied to the global banking crisis. The situation has improved and Q3 has marked a slow, albeit gradual return to stability. Central banks have had some success in fighting persisting inflation, and while interest rates remain high, the rate of rises has slowed. Geopolitical challenges have also left their mark on the global economy in the form of inflation and oil prices and will likely continue to do so for the remainder of this year.

Despite the challenges of the market environment, QIC reported net investment results amounting to QR681m during first nine months of 2023. The consolidated net profit was QR453m during the first nine months of 2023.