The Central Bank of the UAE has revealed a strong increase in assets invested within the insurance sector, rising to AED 84.9bn ($23.1bn) at the end of 2024--equivalent to 59.2% of total sector assets and up from AED 77.2bn (54.6%) as of the end of 2023.
According to the report, this growth was driven by three main factors:
- An increase in investments in securities and debt instruments, which reached AED36.3bn at the end of 2024, compared with AED32.9bn at the end of 2023.
- A rise in cash and bank deposits to AED25bn as of end-2024, up from AED22.3bn at the previous year-end.
- An increase in other deposits, which climbed to AED4.9bn as of end-2024, from AED3.1bn at end-2023.
The report also highlighted an uptick in the sector’s profitability. Insurance sector profits edged up from AED2.5bn in 2023 to AED2.6bn in 2024, marking a growth of 3.7%.
Key indicators that drove growth
The Central Bank noted improvements across all major performance indicators. Total written premiums rose from AED50.4bn in 2023 to AED60.0bn in 2024, representing a 19.1% increase.
The number of policies issued nationwide also expanded, climbing to 15.8m in 2024—an 8.1% rise from 14.6m in 2023. This surge was mainly fuelled by a sharp increase in health insurance policies, which grew by 52.1% to 2.1m, along with a 3.7% increase in property and liability policies, which totalled 13.5m.
The report further showed a notable rise in claims paid. Total claims settled across the country jumped by 28.6%, reaching AED39.1bn in 2024 compared with AED30.3bn in 2023.
Total profits across 11 insurance segments increased by 3.7% to AED2.6bn in 2024, largely due to higher net investment income during the year.