According to the “Insurance Sector’s 2022 Annual Report” published by the Insurance Control Commission at the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the Lebanese insurance sector registered some 160.10% annual increase in net profit in 2022 to just above $185.17 million, from $71.19 million in 2021. This increase was mainly fueled by a $321.58 million hike in net reinsurance proceeds (from an expense of $200 million in 2021 to a revenue of $122.50 million in 2022) coupled with a $60.86 million (18.39%) contraction in claims paid to $270.02 million. This outweighed the $50.00 million (2.94%) drop in written premiums to $1.64 billion and the $201.15 million (16.97%) rise in ceded premiums to $1.39 billion. The top 5 Lebanese insurance companies accounted for 151.66% of the sector’s combined profit (as many companies registered losses), led by UFA ($127.62 million; 68.92% share), Securite ($66.50 million; 35.91% share), Bankers ($35.76 million; 19.31% share), ALICO ($31.70 million; 17.12% share) and Medgulf ($19.27 million; 10.40% share).

On the balance sheet front, the consolidated assets of the Lebanese insurance sector widened by 3.50% in 2022 to $6.03 billion while technical reserves on the liabilities front contracted by 9.29% to around $3.35 billion. In addition, the equity of the Lebanese insurance sector rose by 27.36% y-o-y to around $1.65 billion in 2022. Profitability wise, the sector’s return on assets and return on equity ratios firmed at 3.07% and 11.26% respectively in the year 2022, in comparison with 1.22% and 5.51% a year before.