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Bahrain Insurance Report Q4 2010
Business Monitor International, Oct 2010, Pages: 73
The Bahrain Insurance Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, insurance associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Bahrain's insurance industry.
In some ways, Bahrain’s position in the Middle East is analogous to that of Singapore in South East Asia. Both countries are city states, located on islands, with relatively few natural resources – with the result that they have had to develop as regional service centres. Both are home to highly respected central bankcum- regulators that have worked assiduously to promote financial services, including insurance. Great credit is due to the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) that the country’s insurance sector has continued to grow steadily even though Bahrain – like Singapore – was hit hard by the downturn in trade in the wake of the global financial crisis. Last year, non-life and life premiums rose, respectively, by 6% and 10%.
In short, a downturn in economic activity has been more than offset by a rise in non-life (and almost certainly life) penetration (ie premiums as a percentage of GDP). As the tables in this report show, the effect of the global financial crisis seems to have been that growth in Bahrain’s insurance sector slowed to single figures (just) for one year (2009). The key question, therefore, is: will growth accelerate again? BMI believes strongly that the answer is yes. By virtually all measures, insurance is growing rapidly across the Middle East. Bahrain is the longest established international business centre in the region. Along with Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission of Malaysia, the CBB has been a major and successful proponent of Islamic finance at the global level. Bahrain and Malaysia are home to important international Islamic finance institutions. Despite the financial problems of some issuers of Islamic bonds in other countries in Q409, Islamic finance continues to develop rapidly from a low base. A glance at the CBB’s website shows that central bank recently issued a licence to Zurich Insurance Services, so that the multinational Swiss giant can provide non-life services to its large corporate customers through Bahrain. Zurich has been active in Bahrain’s life segment for some time.
In late 2009 the central bank granted a licence to Hardy ARIG Insurance Management, so that it could develop a reinsurance joint venture (JV) in Bahrain. Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd is a specialist insurer and reinsurer at Lloyd’s of London, while Arab Insurance Group (ARIG) is a leading regional reinsurer. ARIG is owned by the governments of the UAE, Libya and Kuwait, as well as by private interests in the UAE, Kuwait and elsewhere, but its head office is in Bahrain. According to the CBB, ‘the new company will initially focus on construction and engineering business, along with onshore energy risks, and will look to develop further lines in due course.’
Bahrain’s non-life insurance sector continues to be dominated by two large companies, Bahrain Kuwait Insurance and Bahrain National Insurance, which together account for about one-third of gross written premiums in that sector. Other large players in the sector include Takaful International, Al Ahlia Insurance, Gulf Union Insurance & Reinsurance, AXA Insurance (Gulf) and ACE American Insurance. In addition, 15 other, smaller companies participate in the non-life market.
The life sector is dominated by Life Insurance Corporation (International) and Zurich International, which together account for approximately two-thirds of gross written premiums. Eight other players share the remaining third of the market share for the life sector.
In this report we provide a breakdown of the insurance sector by line, from the point of view of the regulator or trade association. In Bahrain in 2008 comprehensive motor insurance (presumably compulsory motor third party liability, or CMTPL) was the largest line in the non-life segment, accounting for a little under half of gross written premiums. Other major lines included fire, property and liability; medical; and engineering cover.
Writing in September 2010, we have been able to include final data for 2009 and to amend projections for the current year in order to take into account results for H110 that have actually been released. Total premiums in Bahrain in 2009 amounted to BHD200mn. This includes non-life premiums of BHD143mn and life premiums of BHD57mn. (It should be noted that these figures do not, however, include nearly BHD300mn in inwards reinsurance business booked in Bahrain during 2009 by ARIG and other reinsurers and Retakaful operators). In 2014, the corresponding figures should be BHD369mn, BHD236mn and BHD133mn respectively. In terms of the key drivers underpinning our forecasts, we forecast non-life penetration to slip from 2.49% in 2009 to 2.20% in 2014, and for life density to rise from US$151 to US$350 per capita. BMI’s Insurance Business Environment Rating for Bahrain is 55.9 out of 100.
Issues to Watch
New Participants
Together with the arrival of newcomers such as Zurich Insurance Services and the new Hardy Arig JV, plus any other new initiatives announced by international groups in Bahrain through Q210, the growing premiums provide confirmation that Bahrain’s cross-border business is expanding.
Islamic Finance
an by 37% (or nearly four times as fast as the insurance sector as a whole) to BHD18mn in H109. The development of Takaful should continue to evolve as an important growth driver over the coming years.
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