Tawnuniya’s Gross Written Premiums surpassed SAR 14 Bn. in 2022, growing by more than 40% and marking a record high over our company’s history spanning more than 36 years.
Our Dear Shareholders,
Our robust growth in 2022 came as a result of planned activities and market strategies across all segments of our three insurance business lines of health and life, mobility, and general insurance. Our health and life portfolio grow by more than 27% reaching SAR 9.9 Bn. driven by capturing new market opportunities arising out of robust economic growth and government privatization programs introducing new clients to the private sector space. We also witnessed a healthy recovery in the total number of insured lives in the Kingdom in the post-pandemic era bringing the total addressable market to more than 11.8 million lives in the private sector. This marks a 25% growth in lives year-over-year and gives us assurances that the insurance market is back on a positive trajectory post-COVID economic challenges in the prior two years. 2022 also saw excellent performance in the Tawuniya-led Hajj and Umrah program yielding more than SAR 1 Bn. in premiums as the number of pilgrims to the two Holy Mosques grew steadily back to normal levels after the full lifting of international travel restrictions.
The mobility insurance sector also witnessed remarkable growth reaching more than SAR 1 Bn. in Gross Written Premiums marking a 69% increase compared to last year. This achievement comes on the back of significant investments we have made in building out sophisticated pricing engines that deploy dynamic pricing models and enable much higher levels of efficiency in pricing motor insurance risks. Furthermore, the growth witnessed comes not just as a result of sound pricing, but also healthy increase in the number of insured vehicles by more than 50% compared to last year. Our mobility team also continued to see excellent success in the adoption of Tawuniya Drive program with registrations exceeding 55 thousand clients. As our clients enjoy the benefits of rewards associated with defensive driving behavior, we continue to gather and utilize immensely valuable date that reached in excess of 100 million kilometers of driving information. We continue to navigate the challenging market dynamics in the mobility sector with the utilization of technology-driven pricing tools and staying true to our service excellence with our valued clients, bringing the best in class for Tawuniya insured motorists.
The solid financial standing of Tawuniya backed by remarkable growth in the topline and profitability earned us an “A-“ rating from S&P global with a stable outlook. This credit rating further supported the growth in our general insurance business line where we witnessed more than 33% growth in Gross Written Premiums and continued increase in our risk retention levels. Our property and casualty business continues to enjoy great potential to do even more in future years, banking on the enormous potential for growth linked to the national economy and Vision 2030 programs, and companies deploying giga projects around the Kingdom. We are proud to be the insurer of choice for landmark projects of Vision 2030 such as Roshen, Hexagon, and the Line projects in NEOM. Substantial opportunities in this segment are expected as well with insurance programs upcoming for domestic labor and extended warranty and cybersecurity.
The highlighted growth of our insurance portfolio for the year was also coupled with commendable performance in terms of profitability across all business lines. The overall book lose ratio decreased compared to last year reaching 80%. This came as a direct result of sound pricing strategies for our motor and health and life business, as well as significant improvements in our claims management systems, enhancing the revenue cycle with providers and utilizing advanced reconciliation technologies. This, in turn, enabled us to reduce performance predictability and provided more room to focus on client services and experience across all business lines. Our investment book also witnessed favorable performance in the face international markets volatility, inflation, and geopolitical events globally. Our investment strategy remains resolute with a balanced and conservative approach across all asset classes in our portfolio. Such efforts culminated in realized gains in excess of SAR 300 Mn. reflecting an average return on 5.2% on our portfolio holdings for the year.
Our management team remains committed to the strategic objectives and vision for Tawuniya outlined in our strategy for 2025. 2022 saw multiple developments in this regard including our launch of “Tree”, the first fully digital insurance company in the Kingdom charting the future of digital insurance in Saudi Arabia. Tree is planned to offer a unique digital insurance experience with unprecedented flexibility and features that appeal to the dynamic and tech-savvy insurance clientele growing in the Kingdom today. In 2022 we also made some strategic investments that complement and accelerate our digital transformation agenda for 2025 including an investment in Vision Bank and “Syarah”, an innovative digital vehicle sales platform with a unique insurance integration capability.
During 2022 we also saw the full deployment of our new operating model creating semi-independent verticals for our three main business lines, that resulted in enhanced decision-making processes, increased operating efficiency, and a modern organizational and rewards structure that attracts and retains top talent for Tawuniya. We also solidified our commitment towards sustainability with the issuance of our first sustainability report highlighting our ESG strategy and showcasing our targets for improving our environmental footprint, social impact, and governance practices. The report includes strategic Sustainable Development Goals carefully selected to complement our business practices, and provide our investors and stakeholders with increased levels of transparency and insights into our sustainability practices across all of our operations.
We are committed to continuing on our journey towards performance excellence, innovation, and shareholder value creation in the insurance industry. Finally, I would like to thank our employees and management team for their industrious efforts and commitments that culminated in the achievements of 2022, and our shareholders for the trust they put in us. We look forward to another great year of performance in 2023.
Abdulziz H. Al Boug
Chief Executive Officer
