Walaa Insurance confident of strong performance in 2021, holds 8% of motor market: CEO

Walaa Cooperative Insurance Co. is “confident” of good performance in 2021, expecting to do well in all lines of business, including medical insurance, CEO Johnson Varughese told Argaam in an exclusive.

“Since S&P Global Ratings of Walaa has been upgraded to (A-) with ‘Stable’ outlook, we expect a lot more business from the property and casualty (P&C) segment,” he said.

The company held a market share of 8% in the motor, 8.6% in the general insurance, and less than 1% in the medical, as well as protection & savings segments by the end of September 2020.

Walaa is one of the insurance companies that participated in the coinsurance program of Inherent Defects Insurance (IDI) compulsory cover led by Malath Cooperative Insurance Company, Varughese explained, noting that the sales of this product were not launched.

Moreover, Walaa recorded an increase of SAR 18 million (11.6%) in the motor line in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to the third quarter, he concluded.

The insurer reported a net profit before Zakat of SAR 72.6 million for 2020, compared to SAR 23.2 million a year earlier, Argaam reported.