Insurance

The Kingdom’s insurance industry has traditionally been strong, regularly posting double-digit year-on-year growth, mirroring the expansion of the wider financial sector. The global financial crisis and recent political unrest, however, have presented the industry with a number of challenges in recent years. For example, the unrest made the implementation of the planned new mandatory health law difficult. Yet despite the global economic downturn, the insurance sector has been able to achieve consistent growth in consolidated gross premiums and total capital resources. Bahrain’s open and diverse economy, a robust yet flexible regulatory framework, a growing awareness of insurance concepts and a significant pipeline of infrastructure development work form the basis of the market’s potential. The industry certainly enjoys a number of opportunities. Life business, in particular, is widely seen as an area with significant growth potential: a growing awareness of the benefits of long-term insurance and an increasingly sophisticated consumer base underlie a growing demand for sophisticated savings schemes.