Saudi Arabia's Listed Insurers Post 13% Profit Growth in H1 2026: Moody's
Aggregate profit reached $400 million on stronger underwriting and higher investment income, but gains stayed concentrated in the largest carriers.
Saudi Arabia's listed insurers made $400 million (SAR 1.5 billion) in aggregate net profit attributable to shareholders in the first half of 2026, up 13% from H1 2025, according to Moody's. In a sector update released on August 31, the agency credited the gain to stronger underwriting performance and higher investment income.
The split behind the headline number shows the support. Net insurance results improved by about 13%, while investment income, excluding unit-linked results, advanced 17% to $370 million (SAR 1.4 billion) from $320 million (SAR 1.2 billion) in the same period of last year.
Insurance revenue for the 24 listed insurers rose about 14% year on year to nearly $10.2 billion (SAR 38.5 billion). Moody's said motor and medical insurance volumes kept expanding, and improved pricing in motor coverage added to the tailwind.
Those volume gains landed alongside premium growth, better claims experience, tighter underwriting discipline and more favorable pricing, according to the rating agency. Improved motor insurance pricing was one of the factors behind the stronger underwriting conditions.
Profit growth was not uniform across the sector. Nine listed insurers still reported net losses, and twelve continued to record underwriting losses.
The five largest insurers by insurance revenue—Tawuniya, Bupa Arabia, Al Rajhi Takaful, Medgulf and Wataniya—accounted for about 77% of sector insurance revenue as of June 30, 2026. Tawuniya and Bupa Arabia alone represented approximately 59%. The top five had combined net profit of roughly $430 million (SAR 1.6 billion), broadly unchanged from a year earlier.
Those numbers reveal the divide. The other 19 listed insurers cut their aggregate net loss to about $26 million (SAR 100 million) from roughly $79 million (SAR 300 million) a year earlier. They are still losing money, but the direction is toward narrower shortfalls.
Equity is moving in the same split pattern. Aggregate shareholders' equity across listed insurers rose 7.4% to about $7.5 billion (SAR 28 billion) as of June 2026 from about $6.9 billion (SAR 26 billion) a year earlier, but larger insurers drove most of the increase. Several smaller companies recorded double-digit declines in equity, and some disclosed substantial going-concern uncertainties.
The concentration gives the sector a particular exposure as it changes regulatory footing. Moody's said solvency pressures are likely to increase as Saudi Arabia moves to a risk-based capital and economic solvency framework from January 2027. For smaller carriers with shrinking equity and uncertain going concerns, the transition raises the cost of delay.
