CBB extends ARIG board term until year-end

Due to inability to hold secret ballot by shareholders

BAHRAIN: Owing to the inability to convene a physical general meeting of the shareholders to cast secret ballot for electing a new board for the beleaguered Arab Insurance Group (ARIG), the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) extended the term of the current board until December 31, 2020.

It was close to a month ago, on August 13, the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the shareholders of ARIG decided to cease writing further reinsurance business.

According to a shareholder who sat through the EGM formalities on August 13 to decide on the fate of the business, there was nail-biting suspense until the EGM concluded by deciding to cease the reinsurance business and go on run-off.

The once fabled reinsurance giant in the region, ARIG, has been struggling for some time now and the company reported a loss $3.62 million for the first half ending June 2020, against $9.54 million profit a year earlier.

The insurance major during the period reported a steep decline in gross written premiums, which went into negative, at $12.61 million against $171.74 million for first-half 2019 impacting the bottom line hard. The total assets had fallen from $1.036 billion as of December 2019 to $888.82 million as of June 30, 2020.

Alternatively, the company decided to explore the possibility of finding a buyer to take over the company. “The board has been given the authority to pursue all possible ways to preserve and enhance shareholder value,” a company statement said.