GIG
Kuwait-listed insurance group founded in 1962, with life, non-life and takaful businesses in 12 countries. Fairfax Financial Holdings holds 97.06 percent, and the Gulf business operates as GIG Gulf after the 2021 AXA Gulf acquisition.
Industry: Insurance and takaful | Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait | Founded: 1962
About GIG
Gulf Insurance Group, known as GIG, is a Kuwait-based insurer listed on Boursa Kuwait, with its headquarters at KIPCO Tower in Sharq. Its website gives 1962 as its founding year. The group describes itself as the largest insurance group in Kuwait by written and retained premiums, with life, non-life and takaful operations, and says it has companies in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Iraq and Lebanon. It reports more than 4,000 employees and more than 3.5 million customers.
Fairfax Financial Holdings became the largest shareholder in 2023 by buying 46.32 percent from KIPCO, and its holding reached 97.06 percent after a 2024 mandatory tender offer, according to the group's website. Bijan Khosrowshahi, chairman and chief executive of Fairfax International, is group chairman. On 23 December 2025 GIG announced the retirement of Group Chief Executive Khaled Saoud Al Hasan after 50 years with the group. He remains vice chairman, and executive management took over the chief executive's responsibilities as delegated by the board. No successor was named in that announcement.
GIG operates under country brands including GIG Kuwait, GIG Gulf, GIG Saudi, GIG Egypt, GIG Jordan, GIG Turkey and GIG Algeria. GIG Gulf covers the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar and sells car, travel, home, health and business insurance.
On 7 September 2021 GIG completed the acquisition of AXA's Gulf operations, including AXA Gulf in Bahrain, the UAE, Oman and Qatar and AXA Cooperative Insurance in Saudi Arabia, for US$474.75 million in cash. The deal took the group into Oman and Qatar, and the AXA businesses were rebranded as GIG. In 2023 GIG acquired AIG Egypt's domestic operations and merged them into GIG-Egypt in 2024.
For 2025 GIG reported a net profit of 24.7 million Kuwaiti dinars, against 25.9 million in 2024, insurance revenue of 728.6 million dinars and total assets of 1.33 billion dinars. For the first half of 2026 it reported a net profit of 23.8 million dinars, up 89.2 percent from a year earlier, and total assets of 1.5 billion dinars at 30 June 2026.
Leadership
- Bijan Khosrowshahi, Group Chairman
- Khaled Saoud Al Hasan, Vice Chairman and former Group Chief Executive
- Osama Kamel Mostafa Aly Kishk, Group Chief Financial Officer
- Farid Joseph Saber, Group Chief Operations Officer
- Jean Cloutier, Board Member