Saudi ins. income climbs as smaller players narrow losses –Moody’s

Listed Saudi ins. providers’ net income attributable to shareholders rose 13% to around SAR 1.5 bn in 1H 2026, but the increase came entirely from the bottom of the market. Aggregate losses at the 19 ins. providers outside the top five narrowed to around SAR 100 mn from some SAR 300 mn, while the five largest earned a combined SAR 1.6 bn, broadly unchanged y-o-y, according to Moody’s Ratings (pdf). Ins. revenue across the 24 listed insurers climbed 14% to nearly SAR 38.5 bn.

Motor and medical are still doing the work: Growth in the two compulsory lines drove the revenue increase, while investment income excluding unit-linked results jumped 17% to SAR 1.4 bn. That follows sector growth in 2025, when gross written premiums rose 10.7% to SAR 84.3 bn, according to the Ins. Authority.

Half the market is still in the red: Twelve of the 24 listed insurers reported higher net income in 1H, while nine remained loss-making. Walaa is the clearest turnaround, swinging to SAR 43 mn in net income from a SAR 117 mn loss a year earlier.

Scale still rules the market: Tawuniya, Bupa Arabia, Al Rajhi Takaful, Medgulf and Wataniya accounted for around 77% of insurance revenue at the end of the first half, with Tawuniya and Bupa Arabia alone representing roughly 59%. Medgulf posted the strongest improvement among the top five, while lower earnings at Tawuniya offset gains elsewhere in the group. Also, all five insurers reported y-o-y growth in investment income, while nine of the remaining 19 posted declines.

Capital is moving the other way from earnings: Sector-wide equity rose 7.4% to around SAR 28 bn by June, largely reflecting retained earnings, capital injections, and balance-sheet expansion among larger insurers. Several smaller companies reported double-digit declines in shareholders’ equity — the same firms whose narrowing losses account for the sector’s profit growth.

REMEMBER- National Ins. Sector Strategy targets nearly doubling the size of the industry to SAR 150 bn by 2030, while raising its contribution to non-oil GDP to 3.6%, but the regulatory clock is ticking. From January 2027, insurers will move to a risk-based capital and economic-solvency framework. Moody’s expects the new regime to put additional pressure on weaker players, potentially accelerating consolidation and M&A across the sector.