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Saudi Insurance Sector Earnings Jump to 100% | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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An investor monitors a screen displaying stock information at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser


Riyadh – Over the last nine months, earnings of Saudi insurance companies have increased 100% in comparison to last year.

The insurance sector is expected to be one of the most important sectors participating in the growth of the domestic economy, and consequently the achievement of Vision 2030 in a post-oil era.

Eyad al-Hebe, CEO Namar for Insurance and Reinsurance, said that insurance companies are expected to record a 104% profit rate in comparison to the same time during 2015.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Hebe said that the growth witnessed by the sector is due to 5 main reasons: development of management, actuaries, increase of insurance market, governmental regulations issued by the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance and Saudi Arabian Monetary Association (SAMA), and benefiting from insurance services.

The CEO explained that Saudi insurance companies are now considered an effective element in the growth of the national economy with over $10.6 billion which could reach by the end of 2020 $21.3 billion.

He also noted that the collective market value of the insurance sector enlisted in the Saudi market reached $400 million, while it was $189.4 million in 2015, thus increased 100%.

Tadawul Stock Exchange announced that the net sales of foreign investments in local market reached $29 million in October.

Saudi Arabia appointed market regulator Mohammed al-Jadaan as its new finance minister by royal decree, replacing Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, who had held the post since 1996.

Jadaan is widely seen as a reformist within the government and a close ally of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Assaf’s removal is unlikely to usher in a shift in Saudi Arabia’s tight fiscal policy, which is being crafted to a large degree by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who oversees the kingdom’s economic and defense portfolios. The prince has introduced a wide-ranging economic reform plan to the country.

Jadaan was formerly the chairman of the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) and had overseen the loosening of regulatory requirements as Saudi Arabia opened its stock exchange to foreign investors over the last year.