Bupa Arabia actuarial investment lifts insurance margin: CFO

Hatim Jamal, CFO, Bupa Arabia

Bupa Arabia for Cooperative Insurance Co. has invested heavily in developing its actuarial and pricing capabilities, in a bid to navigate inflation, which reflected positively on its 2024 insurance margin, CFO Hatim Jamal told Argaam.

By the end of 2024, the Saudi-listed insurer’s portfolio was deemed the biggest ever in its history. It remains profitable and sustainable, implying no loss accounts on Bupa Arabia’s balance sheet, Jamal stated.

On the recent financial performance, the CFO said that despite the decline in Bupa Arabia’s Q4 2024 profit, all other financial indicators improved on an annual basis.

According to Jamal, the evaluation of quarterly results on an annual basis does not denote the full picture of overall business performance. This is given the seasonal and cyclical nature of inflation, in addition to changes in the number of insured persons, impacting claims within different intervals.

He added that Bupa Arabia relies on a 12-month moving average to evaluate its performance, which has shown a significant improvement compared to last year. This reflected the positive uptrend in the company’s operations and strategic initiatives.

Bupa Arabia is proceeding with its strategy to diversify its customer base and boost its market share by attracting customers from various sectors, the CFO highlighted.

Nevertheless, the local insurance market’s positive momentum is still ongoing, backed by the favorable interest rate environment, in addition to the effective role played by the Insurance Authority (IA) in terms of sector development, he concluded.