3. An overview of the formation of the Group’s Actuarial Unit
3.1 A brief overview of the work and requirements of the Actuarial Unit.
Gulf Insurance Group has promoted its leading position in the regional market over the past years by establishing an internal actuarial department in each of the Group’s companies, a key function of its internal insurance business. In compliance with international guidelines, the Group’s actuarial department serves as a quality assurance measure to ensure that certain important decisions can be made based on technical and specialized actuarial advice, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the insurance business, its models, and their related risks.
The main roles and responsibilities of the department are as follows (but not limited to):
- Establishing strong and effective internal actuarial departments across all Group companies
- Complying with all applicable laws, regulations, and regulatory requirements
- Reducing reliance on external actuarial consulting
- Supporting senior management and technical activity managers in the decision‑making process
- Disseminating actuarial expertise across the Group’s companies, taking into account corporate social responsibility in the countries in which the Group operates.
- Monitoring the insurance portfolio, its developments, and the associated risks and opportunities.
- Improving data quality, consistency, validation, and reconciliation processes.
- Enhancing internal reporting and analysis.
- Creating a competitive advantage and value for all stakeholders.
- Establishing technical reserve policies, monitoring changes therein, and assessing their adequacy (or determining their deficit).
- Reviewing technical provision estimates in accordance with best practices across the Group’s companies.
- Managing electronic systems for IFRS 17, including modeling, calculations, reporting, and variance analysis, in addition to financial analyses.
- Evaluating reinsurance strategies and agreements across the Group’s companies, determining acceptable risk retention rates, assessing natural catastrophe risks, capital adequacy, sensitivity testing, risk accumulation, concentration risks, credit risks, and appropriate reinsurance agreement coverage, etc.
- Integrating technical data, establishing central data centers, identifying business opportunities, and implementing predictive analytics.
3.2 A summary of reports submitted to the Board of Directors
Pursuant to the regulatory requirements in addition to business requirements, the actuarial department prepares a set of reports on various objectives and entities. The most significant of these reports include without limitation:
- Annual Actuarial Report (for the Insurance Regulatory Unit)
This report covers the insurance business of the parent company of Gulf Insurance Group, including underwriting activities, claims management, reinsurance agreements, actuarial reserves, investment portfolio, and solvency margin, as well as IFRS 17 assumptions and calculations.
- Quarterly Actuarial Report (for the Risk Committee of the Group’s Board of Directors and the Executive Management)
The report provides an executive summary of the progress made in the department’s key strategic objectives and their developments, as well as actuarial key performance indicators and their developments, key risk assessments, and the most important highlights of the Group’s quarterly technical reserves. In addition to a summary of the quarterly results of the appointed actuary, an analysis of the level of technical reserves for each company, an analysis of the level of risk margin for each company, an analysis of the level of discount for each company, and the level of technical provisions for claims, and their adequacy at best.
- Other requirements (for various stakeholders)
In addition to the periodic reports mentioned above, the department meets the needs of the Group’s executive management, shareholders’ requirements, external auditors’ requirements and reviews, electronic systems testing reports, supplier evaluations, and verification of results.
The department also plays a key role in overseeing the group companies’ operations and reserve accounts at the local level, in addition to conducting independent reviews of potential acquisitions. The department also conducts periodic reviews of the group companies’ actuarial accounts quarterly.
3.3 The decision to appoint the actuary is signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The appointment of the actuary for the Gulf Insurance Group during the year 2023 has been approved:
- Name of the appointed actuary for the group: Ahmed Ragab
- License Number: ACC20220001
- Department/Department: Actuarial Department of the Group
3.4 Actuarial Report according to Article (50) of Resolution (58) of 2023 and its amendments regarding the Company.
The Group’s actuary prepares the Group’s annual report in accordance with what is stated in the Executive Regulations of the Insurance Regulatory Unit and Resolution No. (58) of 2023, and the Group sends a copy of this report with the results of the examination to the Insurance Regulatory Unit on an annual basis.
3.5 A report on the Company’s work and the extent of its compliance with the actuary’s recommendations.
Year after year, Gulf Insurance Group continues its efforts to strengthen and improve the internal actuarial departments across all group companies, enhancing their integration with business activities and strategic objectives. The following achievements were made during 2024 based on a set of periodic recommendations, in addition to the primary goal of unifying and streamlining actuarial processes across the group. Further developments are planned for the coming period:
2024 – Achievements and Developments in Actuarial Department to Date
- Expanding the team by hiring additional experienced actuaries at all levels to support growing business requirements and enhance the group’s capabilities.
- Working through a structured plan focused on developing departments and individuals and building the necessary skills.
- Designing and implementing an integrated, group‑wide electronic system to support quarterly reporting activities.
- Providing additional enhancements to the comprehensive group guidelines, in addition to actuarial training and improving technical methodologies.
- Developing task automation to streamline the process of generating periodic reports and summaries by leveraging enhanced data capabilities.
- Reviewing and updating existing policies to align with new regulatory objectives, as well as insurance sector regulations and standards.
- Developing a comprehensive internal control framework to enhance oversight of the financial reporting process in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standard 17.
- Initiating a comprehensive data analytics project as part of the Group’s reinsurance improvement strategy.
- Actively participating in Fairfax working groups to share knowledge and new practices.
2025 – The Way Ahead
- Enhance actuarial team capabilities by adding distinguished resources in order to support growth and work requirements.
- Restructuring department plan taking into account the future plans, main priorities and Group objectives.
- Advance automation to reduce tasks, and routine activities in order to improve efficiency and accuracy.
- Integrate new system functions to meet evolving requirements.
- Continue cooperation with Group companies to enhance shortcomings and fill gaps.
- Advance towards data analysis and improvement reinsurance.