marsh
Larger insurance programs, in MENA are generally placed via the reinsurance market, which follows changes similar to the international reinsurance market. This is due to local insurers in MENA, in general, not being able to act as a leader on large insurance programs, due to limited capacity. Therefore, larger more complex risks are more dependent on the reinsurance market.
Casualty: Casualty insurance market pricing remained stable and competitive, with capacity generally sufficient.
Property: Property insurance market pricing remained generally stable. Some local insurers showed a decline in appetite due to internal guideline issues and/or treaty restrictions.
Casualty: Liability pricing continued to stabilize, with increased demand from various business segments, particularly engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and operation and maintenance (O&M) contractors venturing into new projects. There was an increase in aviation liability queries due to privatization of the aviation sector. Aviation liability pricing increased more than 10% in the fourth quarter.
Property: Local insurers sought to increase retentions on non-catastrophe risks. Some global insurers engage with local insurers on a coinsurance basis to retain a greater part of the risk within Saudi Arabia, thereby relying less on more expensive reinsurance markets. There is a downward pricing trend in non-catastrophe risks where insurers have high retentions, whereas large catastrophe risk experienced more stable pricing. Insurers often increased treaty capacities, where possible, which increased overall capacities of the local markets.
Casualty: Pricing in the fourth quarter in the casualty insurance market remained generally stable.
Property: In general, property insurers sought to increase deductibles and restrict coverages.
Insurance pricing was generally stable in the fourth quarter of 2021, with the exception of property and engineering risks, which experienced increased claims following Cyclone Shaheen.
Casualty: Many insurers experienced a large number of motor liability claims during periods of heavy rain in Oman. Despite those claims, pricing for motor liability continued to decrease.
Property: Oman experienced Cyclone Shaheen in October 2021, followed by flooding incidents that resulted in claims; most insurers experienced significant losses.
In the local insurance market in Egypt, overall pricing was stable, with generally minimal or flat increases. Purchasing coverage from international markets tended to bring pricing increases, in line with global trends.
Casualty: Pricing was generally stable as local markets had sufficient capacity.
Property: As most of Egypt's businesses are not in catastrophe areas, property insurance pricing was stable, particularly when local markets provided coverage.
Overall, insurance pricing increases moderated in the fourth quarter of 2021, with limited increases for some clients and coverages. Pricing typically followed global trends for larger clients.
Casualty: Pricing in the casualty market remained stable in the fourth quarter.
Property: Pricing in the property market remained generally stable in the fourth quarter, due to insurers relying on reinsurance treaties to meet the local competition.
Insurance pricing in South Africa is heavily dependent on risk specifics. In some instances, international markets are competitive with local ones, in other cases their pricing is higher.
Casualty: Year-over-year pricing in casualty markets generally increased between 10% and 15% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Property: Average year-over-year pricing increases for property insurance in the fourth quarter of 2021 ranged from 10% to 45%. At the same time, there was a general reduction in available limits.