JEDDAH: The Saudi healthcare insurance is expected to witness a CAGR of over 25 percent during 2011-2013, RNCOS in its latest report "Saudi Arabia Insurance Market Analysis". The Kingdom has emerged as one of the fastest growing insurance industries across the world. The Saudi insurance has exhibited tremendous growth during the past few years and is providing lucrative opportunities for existing as well as new market entrants, especially in its health insurance segment. The health insurance segment is growing at a very fast pace and accounted for majority of the overall insurance market at the end of 2010. The report said the health insurance market will be boosted by the recent introduction of compulsory health insurance for private employees irrespective of their company size. However, growth of the health insurance will slow down towards the end of 2013, as all the expatriates will be covered under mandatory insurance plan and the rest of the people will then form the growth of the Kingdom's healthcare insurance market. Besides health insurance segment, various other segments are showing promising future prospects, the report added. Motor, property, and fire insurance segments have shown tremendous growth in the past and "we anticipate that these segments will significantly grow in the coming years on the back of promotional strategies deployed by the government." The report further noted that the voluntary insurance is still not very common in Saudi Arabia. Most of the insurance premiums come from the compulsory branches of insurances. In 2010, majority of the total gross written premium was generated by compulsory lines - motor and health insurance.
