SAMA has issued the 2015 Saudi Insurance Market Report, which shows continuous robust growth of the insurance market in 2015 in the Kingdom. The report also shows the overall positive impact on the sector resulting from continued corrective actions, including continuous boosting of required technical reserves so as to be in line with regulatory laws and instructions. The actions also included enhancing underwriting rules for insurance companies, which has contributed positively to the underwriting results (operational profits) which rose to SAR 963 million in 2015 from SAR 651 million in the previous year. This, in turn, has led the sector to generate net profits of SAR 810 million in 2015, compared to SAR 735 million in the previous year.

Gross written premiums in the Saudi market exceeded SAR 36.5 billion in 2015, increasing by SAR 6 billion over the previous year (SAR 30.4 billion), and growing by 19.7 percent against a growth rate of 20.8 percent in 2014. The report also includes the following:

• Health insurance growth rate was 20.7 percent with a value of SAR 18.9 billion in 2015, compared with SAR 15.7 billion in 2014. This line of business accounted for 52 percent of total insurance market.
• General insurance growth rate reached 19 percent with a value of SAR 16.5 billion in 2015, compared with SAR 13.9 billion in 2014. General insurance accounted for 45 percent of total insurance market.
• Protection and savings insurance growth rate was 14.5 percent with a value of SAR 1.04 billion in 2015, compared with SAR 904 million in 2014. This line accounted for 3 percent of total insurance market.

The insurance sector's total retention ratio increased to 83 in 2015 percent from 79.8 percent in the previous year. Gross claims paid stood at SAR 24.5 billion in 2015, up 20.7 percent from SAR 20.3 billion in 2014. Claims paid for health and motor insurance businesses represented 53 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively, of gross claims paid in 2015. Investments in insurance companies amounted to SAR 12.6 billion, policyholders' assets SAR 39 billion and shareholders' assets SAR 14.7 billion. The number of insurance companies' employees reached 9,682, of whom 59 percent were Saudis.

The 2015 Saudi Insurance Market Report can be found here.