Walaa CEO says market share at 5% of GWP, lists profit drivers

Walaa Cooperative Insurance Co.’s market share stood at 5% of the gross written premiums (GWPs) by the end of the second quarter of 2023, the company’s CEO Johnson Varughese told Argaam.

He added that medical, energy, and, protection and savings lines contributed the most to the company's profitability during Q2 2023. The period’s profit was driven by improved insurance service results, investment performance in the Saudi equity market and higher interest rates returns on deposits.

Furthermore, the implementation of IFRS9, where investments were reclassified from other comprehensive income to the income statement, positively affected the net profits compared to the same period a year earlier, the CEO stated.

Motor insurance’s GWPs fell year-on-year (YoY) by SAR 8 million (-6%) in Q2 2022, but gained SAR 26 million (25%) quarter-on-quarter.

Meanwhile, medical insurance’s GWPs for Q2 2023 inched up by SAR 55 million (28%) YoY and grew SAR 123 million (99%) QoQ, he indicated.

Commenting on the financial impact on the company after the merger with SABB Takaful, he pointed out that there was an increase of SAR 294 million in shareholders’ equity (including an increase in the company’s capital of SAR 204 million and a share premium of SAR 90 million).

The merger also had an impact on the insurance operations as the insurer acquired individuals’ protection and savings (life) insurance product licenses and portfolio in addition to a growth in the general insurance portfolio.

Moreover, due to the capital hike, Walaa was able to improve its solvency margin and grow its investment portfolio. The insurance provider also benefited from the expertise, products, and system it obtained from SABB Takaful, particularly, in the protection and savings product (individuals).

Elsewhere, Varughese mentioned that the implementation of IFRS17 and IFRS9 requires, re-classification and re-measurement as well as new disclosures, where the company’s insurance contracts issued, and reinsurance contracts held are all eligible to be measured by applying the “Premium Allocation Approach” (PAA) except for individual protection & savings product, on which “Variable Fees Approach” (VFA) has been applied.

Regarding the presentation and disclosures, the new standard aggregated some line items of the income statement and the statement of financial position into insurance and reinsurance contracts issued and reinsurance contracts held. In addition, under the new standard doubtful debts and a portion of the general & administrative expenses are allocated to the products, meaning that the amounts disclosed under general and administrative expenses are the remaining portion of the expenses that do not relate directly to any specific product, he also said.

According to data compiled by Argaam, Walaa reported a net profit of SAR 63 million by the end of H1 2023, against a loss of SAR 67.9 million a year earlier. Q2 2023 profit stood at SAR 38.6 million.