OIC premiums inch up to Dh2.4bn

Written premiums of Oman Insurance Company (OIC), also known as Tameen, reached Dh2.4 billion for 2010 financial year compared to Dh2.34bn for the previous year, its chief executive said.

The company had announced Dh1.43bn in gross written premiums during the first half of 2010, an increase of nearly Dh1bn or 68 per cent during the second half.

Abdul Muttalib Al Jaidi said technical profits have crossed Dh200 million for the 2010 financial year as compared to Dh317 million for the previous year. The company had announced technical profit of Dh150 million for the first half of 2010. OIC will announce full-year results in two weeks time.

In a recent report, Business Monitor International forecast premiums written by the UAE firms is to reach Dh22.54 billion at the end of 2011 against Dh22.55bn projected for the last year.

Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Company (Aman) is the first UAE insurance firm to announce 2010 results, posting a meager three per cent increase in net profit for the whole year.

“Technically, we did well. We are still on the top. Our premium income has been growing by almost five per cent. We have had premiums of Dh2.4bn and technical profit also in excess of Dh200m. The final figure hopefully be declared in two-week time.”

Al Jaidi keeps his fingers crossed for the current year. “If you’re an optimistic, yes things are better. But if you are pessimistic then it is other way round. Business leaders should remain optimsitc. ‘At the time of global growth, one can prosper and at the time of crisis one can improve its skills to be able to create opportunities. We learned that change always comes with positive things if you dealing with it positively. Hopefully, 2011 will be positive provided we do well in our own technical performance.”

Al Jaidi also revealed that OIC, the largest insurer in the UAE, is established on sound footing and didn’t lay off staff during the crisis. “We didn’t have any redundancy we appointed people during the crisis. We hired around 50 people in 2010 in different segments as business growth justified recruitment.”

The company, according to Al Jaidi, may also go for acquisitions which help it to strengthen its core business. He said that if there could be consolidation among local companies or acquired by stronger players, the poorly performing firms can be turned around and put back in the profitable business. But, unfortunately, there are no signs of such consolidation.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.