Doha Insurance pins hopes on government's projects
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Mahmoud al-Nasir (centre) speaking about Doha Insurance’s H1 performance as legal and motor claims manager Samer Ahmed Qawas and public relations manager Hassan Matar al-Suwaidi look on |
By Pratap John
Chief Business Reporter
Doha Insurance is optimistic about ‘better performance’ in the engineering portfolio as the government’s commitment to major projects in Qatar raises the prospects for good underwriting income.
Doha Insurance assistant general manager (technical division) Mahmoud al-Nasir said the global economic slowdown had impacted the engineering portfolio in core insurance operations, affecting the underwriter’s bottomline.
“We have seen a very positive support from the government for major projects in Qatar. This will benefit the economy at large. Our engineering portfolio is set to gain from the government projects. We are also very bullish about quoting and writing risks in energy and marine portfolios among others,” al-Nasir said.
He said the recent rating upgrade on Doha Insurance by Standard & Poor’s endorsed the company’s “strong capitalisation, capital adequacy ratios, competitive position and good operating performance.
S&P raised Doha Insurance’s counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook.
“We have now become the third largest insurance company in Qatar and expect to maintain the position for years to come,” al-Nasir said.
Doha Insurance is developing Takaful business as there are ‘tremendous prospects’ for Shariah-based products in the market. A Shariah supervisory board for Doha Takaful has already been set up.
“We have earned a gross premium of QR15mn from our Takaful business in the first half of this year, which represents 10% of our gross premium,” al-Nasir said.
He said the Yemeni–Qatari Insurance Company, in which Doha Insurance has a 40% stake, is expected to begin operations early next year. The joint venture has a paid up capital of 500mn Yemeni rials.
Doha Insurance is also a stakeholder in ‘Al Jasr’, a QR250mn Shariah-compliant insurance company being set up to meet the insurance needs of the proposed Qatar- Bahrain causeway.
Doha Insurance has earned an H1 net profit of QR25.6mn and a gross written premium of QR172mn |
