Salama reports H1 net profit of AED 19.20 million, achieving market leadership in digital takaful solutions

Highlights:

• Records net profit of AED 19.20 million in H1 2022 – driven by strong operational efficiencies, product innovation and digital transformation initiatives.
• Net profit for H1 2022 compared to same period last year was adversely impacted by lower investment income.
• Robust business performance with Gross written contribution of AED 574 million.
• Achieves market leadership in offering largest number of digital takaful solutions to customers and partners, well poised to benefit from this growth opportunity in the second half of 2022.
• Strong performance by subsidiaries in Egypt and Algeria, which achieved profitability growth of 64% YOY.
• hanks to the deployment of strict cost control measures.

• Optimistic on delivering sustained, profitable growth for remaining part of 2022 with focused execution towards partnerships, product innovation and hyper-personalised digital solutions.

Dubai, August 15, 2022: Islamic Arab Insurance Company, listed as “SALAMA” on DFM, today announced its audited financial results for the period ending June 30, 2022. The Company reported a net profit of AED 19.20 million in the first half of the year.

SALAMA remained on track to achieve its operational objectives in H1 2022, led by the continued development of its digital capabilities, bolstering other aspects of the business – including prudent underwriting, client portfolio diversification, new partnerships, and improved distribution channels – providing seamless access to SALAMA’s offerings across varied consumer segments.

In the UAE, SALAMA remained profitable, while its subsidiaries in Algeria and Egypt exceeded performance compared to the same period last year, reporting profitability growth of 64%. General and administrative expenses in H1 2022 improved by 15.88% compared to the same period last year.

SALAMA’s gross written contributions reached AED 574 million in the first half of the year in a price-sensitive and competitive market environment.

The first half also saw SALAMA establishing new strategic tie-ups with banks in the UAE to provide omnichannel Takaful solutions to bank customers. In addition, SALAMA partnered with insuretech providers such as Wellx, to provide hyper-personalised takaful solutions to their customers via wearables technology. In doing so, SALAMA goes above and beyond offering hyper customised Takaful solutions that will positively impact consumers and help them cultivate wellness and safety behaviours.

As part of its strategy to cater to a diverse customer base and reach untapped market segments, SALAMA partnered with policybazaar to offer online insurance for non-GCC specification cars. Through this partnership, SALAMA is providing seamless and fast online insurance for owners of non-GCC-specification cars who have not had access to comprehensive auto insurance in the past.

As more partners, including banks, broker aggregators and e-commerce platforms, choose SALAMA as their preferred digital takaful solutions provider for end-to-end policies onboarding and issuance, the number of retail and e-commerce policies issued by SALAMA online has also multiplied.

The Takaful insurer has also been busy expanding its direct-to-customer portfolio with product lines such as enhanced medical, motor, home, pet insurance and recently added essential benefit plan that allows instant issuance of policy and generates health card online.  In 2022, SALAMA launched a WhatsApp channel for customers to access its services and products and is now one of the first providers to offer end-to-end pet insurance through Whatsapp. Users can now fill out their application, make the payment and get the insurance policy documents issued – all through Whatsapp.

Commenting on the first half yearly performance, Jassim Alseddiqi, SALAMA’s Chairman said: “The first six months of the year have been pivotal for SALAMA, as we have made visible progress in bringing innovative takaful solutions to more segments of the population – all thanks to our well-executed digital-led business transformation initiatives. Having achieved so much in the first half of the year, we are optimistic about the progress we can make for the rest of the year. This is underlined by our strong commitment to value creation in line with shareholder and policyholder expectations.”

Fahim Al Shehhi, CEO of SALAMA, said: ” SALAMA’s robust performance in the first half of the year is a testament to the progress we have made in our key strategic pillars that include digitalization, innovation and collaboration. With our all-encompassing digital capabilities, we are well positioned to grow and expand, led by an aggressive customer acquisition strategy. Growing our life and non-motor businesses is also a focus for us. We are confident about our prospects for the second half of the year and reaffirm our commitment to making Takaful and its benefits as seamless as possible for everyone.”