Dubai's Orient Insurance sees minimum impact from COVID-19 related claims
Low hospitalisation rates and deferral of other medical procedures help on claim payments
Dubai: There will be minimal impact from COVID-19 related claims going forward, according to Orient Insurance, because of “low rates” of hospitalization.
Also helping with better managing of claims is the fact that there remains widespread “deferral” of elective medical procedures. “The Group has evaluated all business interruption policies in force for which the Group may have to incur claim payouts,” the insurer said while reporting third quarter results.
“As a result of initial examination of policies, the Group has determined these will not have a material impact in relation to net claims paid due to specific policy exclusions and the support from reinsurers.” (The Health Authority in Dubai requires all insurers to accept medical claims related to COVID-19 irrespective of the cover terms and conditions.)
Meanwhile, the insurer saw its nine-month 2020 income drop to Dh304.39 million from Dh339.26 million a year ago after reporting Dh73.84 million in losses under ‘other income’. This was the result of taking a Dh52.3 million net unrealized loss from investments.
On the operational side, the profit after tax actually showed a gain, to Dh378.23 million from Dh354.71 million. In the first nine months, Orient paid Dh427.55 million (Dh475.02 million same period 2019) in net claims. Total income came to just over Dh554 million, a marginal gain on the Dh551.18 million a year ago.