Riyadh Re has received the final licensing approval from the Insurance Authority, marking a major milestone in the development of the Kingdom’s reinsurance landscape. It is the second locally-incorporated reinsurance company in the country.
The reinsurer's launch took place at the Global Insurance Conference & Exhibition ingate in Diriyah, dubbed the birthplace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and located within 20km northwest of Riyadh.
Headquartered in Riyadh and incorporated on 4 November 2025, Riyadh Re embodies the national vision to localise reinsurance capacity, develop local expertise, and reinforce financial resilience in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030, said the company’s CEO Fahad Al Hesni, in a special interview with Middle East Insurance Review.
Strong financial footing
Riyadh Re enters the market with a strong capital of SAR550m ($147m), backed 100% by Tawuniya.
An ‘A-’ credit rating from S&P Global Ratings further positions the company as a credible and resilient reinsurer, ready to serve both local and international markets, Mr Al Hesni added.
Business focus
Established in the region’s most dynamic market, Riyadh Re will capitalise on the the huge local opportunities in the Kingdom, while also playing a major role as a leading reinsurer in emerging markets.
Riyadh Re will provide Facultative and Treaty reinsurance solutions across diverse lines of business, including Property, Casualty, Engineering, Construction, Marine, Energy, Aviation, Financial, and Cyber risks.
Local cessions in the KSA and demand for capacity are expected to be the key growth drivers for Riyadh Re.
“In the first phase, we will focus on Saudi Arabia, GCC, and MENA markets. Riyadh Re will build strong regional partnerships and develop localised risk capabilities,” said Mr Al Hesni.
“In the second phase, the company aims to expand globally and become an internationally recognised reinsurer with Saudi roots.”
Riyadh Re’s business model is focused on enabling primary insurers to manage large-scale exposures through collaborative reinsurance frameworks. This collaborative approach ensures financial security and resilience for economic growth across industries. The reinsurer’s offerings include bespoke reinsurance solutions; comprehensive coverage for commercial and industrial assets; reinsurance for long-term risks; and protection for capital-intensive projects across energy, real estate, infrastructure, logistics and utilities.
Underwriting strategy
Mr Al Hesni said that Riyadh Re’s strategic underwriting approach is as follows:
- Focus on technical underwriting rather than aggressive premium growth
- Use data-driven pricing and tight exposure management
- Build relationships and credibility with cedents by being reliable and selective
- Employ retrocession to manage tail risks
- Regularly reassess risk appetite as capital, data and expertise mature
- Maintain balanced diversification across non-correlated classes.
Challenges
Mr Al Hesni also outlined the main challenges that Riyadh Re is expected to face. These include maintaining underwriting discipline, primary market pricing pressure and the impact of climate change and unprecedented natural catastrophes.
Confident of navigating the challenges, he said, “With deep underwriting and superior technical expertise, we bring to the market a unique blend of local insights and global best practices, strong capital, an ‘A-’ rating, advanced technology platforms and data-driven analytics, we are building a national reinsurance champion with global standards contributing to the development of the Saudi Insurance sector.”
Aligning with the National Insurance Strategy—which is part of Saudi Vision 2030— Riyadh Re aims to increase local retention, provide capacity, develop local expertise, and reinforce financial resilience, said Mr Al Hesni.