GCC Insurance Daily
The day's insurance news across the GCC: regulation, governance, AI in insurance, and people moves. Curated, attributed, and linked to the source.
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Salama has elected Humaid Mohammad Obaid Alqutami as chairman, with Fareed Lutfi Al Harmouzi as his deputy, following a board meeting on 2 July. He takes over from Essa Ali Bin Salem Alzaabi, who steered the Dubai-listed takaful firm through its capital restructuring, and the board has also reshuffled its audit, risk, nomination and investment committees.
AM Best has affirmed Orient Insurance's financial strength rating at A (Excellent) with a stable outlook, pointing to a balance sheet it rates very strong and operating performance it also calls very strong. The affirmation covers Orient Takaful and the group's Egyptian arm, and confirms that the larger UAE carriers remain comfortably above the sector's capital and earnings benchmarks.
Fitch has revised its outlook on Tawuniya, one of Saudi Arabia's largest insurers, to stable. An outlook change of this kind adjusts the agency's forward view without altering the underlying rating, and is a routine but useful read on how the market's biggest carriers are trending on earnings and capital.
Saudi Enaya will cut the nominal value of its shares from SAR10 to SAR6.73 to absorb accumulated losses, then raise fresh money through a rights issue to lift its capital base to about SAR315m and clear the Insurance Authority's SAR300m minimum. This is the standalone recapitalisation route after Enaya's shareholders rejected a merger with Salama earlier this year, and the shares rose on the news.
Gulf Union Insurance and Reinsurance reported a 2025 net profit of BD1.59m, down 9.1% on the year, even as insurance revenue grew 7.9% to BD9.51m and net investment income jumped 37.7%. The Bahraini insurer held its AGM in early July with strong shareholder turnout, and put the softer bottom line down to disciplined underwriting in a crowded market.
Policybazaar.ae has partnered with Tabby to let UAE customers split car and health insurance premiums into interest-free instalments, from four months up to twelve, with Tap Payments running the checkout. Spreading the premium goes at a real barrier to take-up, where paying a full annual premium upfront often pushes buyers towards thinner cover or none at all.
Oman's Financial Services Authority has simplified motor claims so a driver who is not at fault can claim directly from their own insurer, which then recovers from the at-fault party's insurer, with no deductible unless optional cover has been added. Direct-compensation models like this cut settlement times and shift the administrative load from claimants onto insurers.
Each item is a short editorial summary with a link to the original source. Items marked Rumour · unverified are unconfirmed and should be treated with caution. Compiled automatically; corrections welcome.