Qatar Re 2016 profit jumps on higher investment income

Bermuda-based Qatar Re boosted net income by 52.3 percent to $38.0 million in 2016, driven by an improvement in net investment income.

Net investment income experienced a three-fold increase from $10.7 million in 2015 to $32.7 million in 2016.

The favourable investment performance has been offset by a decrease in the net underwriting result from $64.7 million in 2015 to $54.0 million in 2016. The loss ratio on the company’s net earned premiums increased from 67.6 percent in 2015 to 72.9 percent. The past year was characterised by an unusually high frequency of large man-made losses, as well as sizeable catastrophe losses such as Hurricane Matthew and earthquake activity in New Zealand, the company said in a statement.

Qatar Re’s combined ratio, based on net earned premiums, was 98.2 percent in 2016, compared with 93.8 percent in 2015.
Gross written premiums rose 8 percent to $1.25 billion in 2016.

“In 2016, our focus was on consolidating Qatar Re’s book of business in what has been a continuously degrading market environment,” said Gunther Saacke, CEO of Qatar Re.

“In line with our expectations, the pace of our premium growth has slowed as we focus on maintaining price adequacy."

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