Insurance premiums
are still rising

Allianz SNA tops the list for the first time

The value of insurance premiums totaled around $1.6 billion in 2015, according to Al Bayan Magazine. Premiums are divided between $471 million in the life segment and $1.1 billion in the non-life lines of business. Premiums grew by 3.5 percent compared to 2014.

The top 20 performing companies in the insurance sector had consolidated revenues of $1.3 billion in 2015, representing more than 80 percent of the sector.

Allianz SNA, which was ranked third in 2014, moved up to first place. Raed Labaki, Chief Market Management Officer said: “We were growing at a high pace, while the sector was not growing at the same speed.” The company achieved seven percent growth in premiums year-on-year.

Allianz SNA dodged the market volatility by having a diversity of business lines and multi-distributional channels. The company operations are 50 percent in the life segment and 50 percent in the non-life segment. “We have our own sales team. We deal with the biggest brokers and with ten banking partners in bancassurance. We have just launched online sales next to our direct sales channel,” Labaki said.

The company is planning to invest in new partnerships with more brokers, banks, and distributors, new agencies as it plans two geographic locations, and new products through the high-end medical product in collaboration with Allianz Group.

Medgulf ranked second, followed by Metlife Alico, Bankers, and LIA. The biggest growth and new entrant in the top 20 list is Continental Trust, which saw its revenues grow from a mere $300,000 to around $52 million. This is because BankMed has recently purchased the company and Continental Trust signed an agreement with the Order of Engineers in Beirut to provide health and other coverage to around 40,000 engineers.

Among the top 20 insurance companies whose premiums fell are Medgulf, Bankers, AXA, Arope, Cumberland, and Arabia Insurance. Companies that achieved growth are Metlife Alico, LIA, Libano Suisse, Bancassurance, Fidelity, Adir, Assurex, Sogecap, ALIG, and UFA. Capital and Al Mashrek maintained the same level of premiums.