Riyadh Re CEO unveils ambitious plans; eyes international portfolio

Riyadh Re was launched in 2025 – its CEO unveils ambitious plans which include international growth.

Key points:
Riyadh Re launched in 2025
Has three-pronged growth strategy
Eyes changing risk landscape

In November last year, The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya) in Saudi Arabia secured a licence to launch a reinsurer: Riyadh Reinsurance Company. The startup, launched with around $150 million in capital, represented an important milestone in Saudi Arabia’s evolving insurance and financial ecosystem. Now, a year on and boasting a rating of A- from S&P, its CEO outlines its progress and strategy in more detail.

Fahad Alhesni, CEO, Riyadh Re, told Monte Carlo Today that the launch of Riyadh Re ties in with the progress of Saudi Vision 2030, an economic strategy designed to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from a reliance on oil by making major infrastructure investments. Combined with its National Insurance Strategy (NIS), unveiled in January to transform the Kingdom's insurance market into a core economic growth engine, the market is dealing with

increasingly complex risks.

“The strategic rationale behind establishing Riyadh Re today is both structural and strategic,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is undergoing a significant economic transformation, creating new sophisticated risks across infrastructure, energy, construction, logistics, technology and emerging industries. The National Insurance Strategy has been developed to unlock the full potential of the insurance market and enable both investors and beneficiaries to capitalize on promising growth opportunities.

“Riyadh Re combines a strong Saudi foundation with international underwriting standards. Our ambition is to build a Saudi-founded reinsurer with regional relevance and international reach.”

Alhesni also notes how the risk landscape is changing and becoming more interconnected. Geopolitical tensions can affect trade, supply chains, energy and insurance exposures, while cyber, climate and technological risks are creating new forms of accumulation. “This creates an opportunity for a reinsurer that combines local knowledge, regional connectivity and international underwriting capability,” Alhesni said.

“Saudi Arabia is our foundation and a strategic advantage, but it is not our boundary. We want to support the development of local reinsurance capacity while progressively building a diversified MENA and international portfolio.”

“The strategic rationale behind establishing Riyadh Re today is both structural and strategic.”

Three-phases of growth

In fact, the company has unveiled an ambitious three-phased roadmap for growth. First, it will target local markets by becoming a trusted and technically credible Saudi reinsurance partner.

Second, it aims to scale across MENA through selective treaty and facultative opportunities, strong client relationships and strategic partnerships.

Finally, it has global ambitions. “We will unlock global potential by entering selected international markets where we can generate attractive risk-adjusted returns,” he said. “We are not trying to become global overnight. We intend to build capabilities and diversification progressively to avoid becoming overly dependent on the Saudi market.”

The reinsurer is currently writing treaty and facultative reinsurance across property, casualty, engineering, construction, marine, energy, aviation, financial risks and cyber. But Alhesni describes its approach as selective rather than volume-driven. “We deploy capital where we have the appropriate expertise and risk appetite, while maintaining diversification and underwriting discipline.”

Riyadh Re has advantages over other reinsurers. Its Saudi roots and deep regional understanding complements international standards. Alhesni says he wants Riyadh Re to be a reinsurer that is easy to do business with, having accessible decision-makers, a clear appetite, consistent underwriting, transparent communication and dependable execution. “But ultimately, reputation has to be earned through performance,” he admitted. 

“Success for us will be measured by more than the size of our balance sheet or premium volume. We want to build a financially strong, profitable and diversified reinsurance company that is respected for the quality of its underwriting and risk management.”

“Saudi Arabia is undergoing a significant economic transformation, creating new sophisticated risks.”

Launching in a soft market

Alhesni is cognisant that the reinsurer is launching in a phase of the market that is competitive. Rates in many lines are softening. But he explains that the decision to launch a reinsurer was based on the long-term structural opportunity rather than short-term market conditions. 

“Our response will be discipline rather than chasing volume. We will deploy capital where we understand the risk and believe the pricing adequately compensates us for it. We are building Riyadh Re to perform through the cycle, not simply to benefit from one phase of it,” he explained.

Having such discipline and expertise will be more important given the changing nature of risk. He notes that geopolitical developments are affecting trade corridors, energy prices and supply chains. Climate change is influencing catastrophe frequency and severity. Cyber can create systemic exposures across multiple industries, while AI presents both opportunities and new risks.

“For reinsurers, this means that traditional underwriting expertise must increasingly be complemented by data, analytics, scenario analysis and forward-looking risk management.

Understanding accumulation is becoming just as important as understanding the individual risk.”

Fahad Alhesni is the CEO of Riyadh Re. He can be contacted at: fhesni@riyadh-re.com

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