AM Best Affirms GIG Gulf A Rating With Stable Outlook

GIG Gulf has kept its A rating from AM Best, the credit rating agency that specialises in insurers, for a sixth year running, and this time its underwriting is back on track. On 22 October 2026, AM Best affirmed the A (Excellent) financial strength rating and "a+" (Excellent) long-term issuer credit rating of the Bahrain-based insurer, whose full name is Gulf Insurance Group (Gulf) B.S.C. (c), with a stable outlook on both. The company was AXA's Gulf business until 2021 and now ranks in the top five by net insurance service revenue in each of its core markets: the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.

A year ago, AM Best kept the same ratings but said GIG Gulf's combined ratio still needed to return to a good level. In 2025 it came in at 95.5%, down from 99.2% in 2024, and the agency says underwriting kept improving in the first half of 2026.

GIG Gulf ratings at a glance

Editorial note: Based on AM Best's announcement of 22 October 2026, earlier AM Best rating releases and the other sources listed below. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by The InsurTech Voice editorial team. Credit ratings are opinions, not guarantees; this article is for information only and is not investment advice.

What did AM Best announce about GIG Gulf?

AM Best's assessment rests on four building blocks:

• Balance sheet: very strong. GIG Gulf holds plenty of capital for the risks it carries.
• Operating performance: strong. It has a consistent record of profitable results.
• Business profile: neutral. Its market position and diversification neither add to nor take away from the rating.
• Enterprise risk management: appropriate. Its risk controls match the risks the business runs.

The ratings also include what AM Best calls "lift" from the parent company, Gulf Insurance Group K.S.C.P. In other words, GIG Gulf is rated higher than it would be on its own, because the group would be expected to support such an important subsidiary.

What do an A financial strength rating and an "a+" issuer credit rating mean?

The two ratings answer different questions. The financial strength rating of A is AM Best's opinion of GIG Gulf's ability to pay policyholder claims and meet its other insurance obligations. It is the third-highest grade on AM Best's scale and is rated "Excellent".

The issuer credit rating of "a+" looks at the company's ability to meet its ongoing senior financial obligations. It sits at the top of AM Best's "Excellent" band and has risen one notch since October 2023, when it was "a". The headline A stayed the same through that change, because both grades fall within the same "Excellent" band.

How strong is GIG Gulf's capital adequacy?

GIG Gulf's risk-adjusted capitalisation was comfortably at the strongest level at the end of 2025 on Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), the agency's model for comparing an insurer's capital with the risks it carries. A year earlier, AM Best expected it to stay there, and it did.

• Low reliance on reinsurance. GIG Gulf passes less of its risk to reinsurers than its regional peers do, leaning instead on its own ample capital.
• Conservative investments. AM Best describes the asset allocation as conservative, with minimal foreign exchange risk.
• One weak point. Elevated financial system risk in Bahrain and Oman, meaning the local banking environment where it holds assets is riskier than in stronger markets.

How has GIG Gulf's underwriting performed in 2025 and 2026?

GIG Gulf's net-net combined ratio, as calculated by AM Best, improved to 95.5% in 2025 from 99.2% in 2024. A combined ratio compares claims and expenses with premium income, so 95.5% means the company kept roughly 4.5 of every 100 in underwriting profit, compared with less than 1 the year before.

The recovery started earlier. AM Best said underwriting results improved over the first half of 2025 as GIG Gulf focused on higher-margin products and exited poorly performing business. The improvement continued into the first six months of 2026, helped by better claims experience and rate increases in its core lines. When the rating was affirmed a year ago, GIG Gulf chief executive Paul Adamson credited the company's "clear focus on profitability, a disciplined approach to risk."

The 2025 figure brings GIG Gulf back close to its longer-run level. Between 2018 and 2022, its weighted average combined ratio was 95.0%. Overall profitability has stayed solid throughout, with an average return on equity of 12.7% over 2022 to 2025.

Who owns GIG Gulf, and why does the parent matter?

GIG Gulf began life as AXA's Gulf operation. Kuwait's Gulf Insurance Group completed its purchase of AXA's Gulf businesses in September 2021 and renamed the business GIG Gulf. Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings now owns about 90% of Gulf Insurance Group.

That parent, one of the largest and most diversified insurance groups in the Middle East and North Africa, is the source of the rating lift described above. GIG Gulf also owns 50% of Gulf Insurance Group (A Saudi Joint Stock Company), the former AXA Cooperative. That stake brings exposure to Saudi Arabia's regulatory changes, including the shift to a new solvency regime explained in our guide to Saudi Arabia's risk-based capital rules for 2027.

Why does this matter for GCC insurance markets?

Brokers, commercial customers and business partners use financial strength ratings when assessing insurance counterparties, so an affirmed A gives them a clear, current signal on one of the region's established insurers.

GIG Gulf's home market is also changing. Bahrain starts compulsory health insurance for expatriate residents on 31 October 2026, as covered in our explainer on Bahrain's mandatory health insurance scheme. Health is a line GIG Gulf knows well: AM Best has previously credited part of its underwriting discipline to dropping poorly performing health business, so how it prices the new compulsory cover will be worth watching.

What happens next?

GIG Gulf's full-year 2026 results will feed into AM Best's next assessment, and a stable outlook means the agency does not currently expect the ratings to change. The first test is whether the combined ratio keeps improving through the second half of 2026, as the first-half trend suggests.

The two things most likely to change the picture sit outside GIG Gulf's own underwriting. One is financial system risk in Bahrain and Oman, the one balance-sheet risk AM Best named. The other is how GIG Gulf's 50%-owned Saudi company adapts to the risk-based capital regime from January 2027.

Stay Ahead of Insurance Industry News

Follow The InsurTech Voice for insurer ratings, market performance, regulatory developments and reinsurance news across the Middle East and global markets. Subscribe to The InsurTech Voice