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- The count: 31 insurance firms on the Central Bank of Bahrain register (21 locally incorporated, 10 overseas branches), 6 third-party administrators and 14 registered loss adjusters, read on 16 September 2026. After taking out reinsurers, a captive, run-off and liquidation cases, 19 insurers are open for business in the table below.
- The market: BD 239.3 million in gross premiums for the first nine months of 2025. Medical and motor are 63% of it, and motor gross claims rose 20% in a year.
- Claims channels: the big writers take claims in an app or a web form, two accept motor claims over WhatsApp, and none of the sites we read describe recorded, verified video as a way to file a claim.
If you handle claims, broker cover or sell to insurers in the Gulf, you eventually need one reliable list of who is licensed in Bahrain. Directories sell you a spreadsheet of 37 or 137 "insurance companies", half of them brokers, reinsurers or firms that stopped writing years ago.
This list comes straight from the regulator's register. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) supervises the sector and publishes a licensing directory anyone can query. We pulled every licensee in the insurance categories, checked each against the Bahrain Insurance Association member lists and the company's own website, and sorted them into three groups: insurers (including takaful operators and foreign branches), third-party administrators and loss adjusters.
What you get: the licensed names, what each one writes, the market in numbers with a source link on every figure, and a section nobody else publishes: how each insurer says claims should be filed today. That last part is why we built the list. VentaVid sells guided evidence capture to claims teams, so we needed to know which channels are already in place.
How this list was built
- Regulator: Central Bank of Bahrain licensing directory, read via its public register on 16 September 2026. Categories used: Locally Incorporated Insurance Firms (21 entries), Overseas Insurance Firms (10), Insurance Ancillary Services with the remark "Third Party Administrators" (6) and Registered Loss Adjusters (14).
- Cross-checks: the Bahrain Insurance Association member list, each company's own website, and the CBB's permitted-activities feed for lines of business.
- In the table: every licensee that writes or administers risk in Bahrain, including life-only and medical-only firms and foreign branches; the "Main lines" column tells you which to skip.
- Out of the table, listed separately: reinsurers (Arab Insurance Group, Trust Re, Hannover Rueck and Hannover Retakaful), the one captive (Masheed Captive Insurance), representative offices, and the eight firms licensed only for business outside Bahrain. Firms marked "Under Liquidation" or "Restricted to Service Existing Business" on the register, and the two companies that merged into Solidarity Bahrain in February 2026, sit in the "Changes since the register" list under the tables.
- What we could not fill: head-office city is blank where neither the register (a P.O. Box only) nor a readable company page states it. We did not guess.
Licensed and not listed, or listed wrongly: mail support@ventavid.com and we correct it.
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The market in numbers
Every figure links to its source. The CBB's latest quarterly Insurance Market Review covers the nine months to 30 September 2025.
- Gross premiums of BD 239.3 million for January to September 2025, flat on the same period of 2024 (BD 239.8 million, a change of -0.2%). Source: CBB Insurance Market Review, September 2025, Table 2.1. For the full year, Grant Thornton estimates BD 301.4 million for 2024 and projects BD 340.5 million by 2029.
- Medical is the largest class at BD 82.5 million (34% of premium), motor is second at BD 68.7 million (29%). Motor premium grew 9% year on year while total premium stood still. Source: CBB IMR September 2025, Table 2.1.
- Motor gross claims rose 20% to BD 55.7 million, and the motor loss ratio moved from 61% to 69%. Motor is also the class insurers keep almost entirely on their own books: a 97% retention ratio. Source: CBB IMR September 2025, Tables 2.1 and 2.2.
- Takaful firms wrote BD 79.0 million, a third of all premium, and overseas branches wrote BD 38.5 million (16%). Source: CBB IMR September 2025, Table 3.1.
- Three companies wrote almost 70% of non-life premium in 2023: GIG Bahrain 36.8% (BD 107.96 million), Solidarity Bahrain 17.4% (BD 51.04 million) and Bahrain National Insurance 15.4%, with GIG Takaful at 8.3% and SNIC at 4.3%. Source: Grant Thornton Bahrain, Insurance Sector report, December 2025. Solidarity has since absorbed Bahrain National Insurance, so on those 2023 figures the top two now hold roughly a third of the market each.
- Motor third-party liability cover is compulsory under Legislative Decree No. 3 of 1987 regarding the Compulsory Insurance on Civil Liability Arising out of Motor Accidents.
- The merger that changed the table: Solidarity Group bought Bahrain National Insurance (bni) and Bahrain National Life Assurance (bnl) from Bahrain National Holding for BD 75 million in June 2025 and completed the merger into Solidarity Bahrain on 23 February 2026. Both names were still on the CBB register when we read it.
The licensed list
Three tables, straight from the register. Lines of business come from the CBB's permitted-activities feed and the company's own site, shortened to fit a phone.
Licensed insurers, takaful operators and foreign branches (19)
Third-party administrators (TPAs) (6)
Loss adjusters and assessment entities (11)
Changes since the register
- Alhilal Life B.S.C. (c): UNDER LIQUIDATION per CBB register. Out of scope. Still listed by BIA (Al Hilal Life).
- Alhilal Takaful B.S.C. (c): UNDER LIQUIDATION per CBB register. Out of scope.
- Bahrain National Insurance Co. B.S.C. (bni): MERGED. Solidarity Group bought bni and bnl from Bahrain National Holding (BNH) in June 2025 (BD 75m) and completed the merger into Solidarity Bahrain on 23 Feb 2026. Still shown on the CBB register on 16 Sep 2026. Treat as part of Solidarity Bahrain.
- Bahrain National Life Assurance Co. B.S.C. (c) (bnl): MERGED into Solidarity Bahrain (Feb 2026), see bni. Life and medical only, no motor. Still on the CBB register on 16 Sep 2026.
- Iran Insurance Company (Bahrain branch): UNDER LIQUIDATION per CBB register. Out of scope.
- McLarens International Limited: UNDER LIQUIDATION per CBB register.
- T'azur Company B.S.C. (c): UNDER LIQUIDATION per CBB register. Out of scope.
- The Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Company (Medgulf) B.S.C. (c): RUN-OFF: CBB register remark 'Restricted to Service Existing Business'. Not writing new business.
Two notes. LIVA Insurance was itself formed from a merger (the former RSA Bahrain business, now part of Liva Group in Oman) but is fully active, so it stays in the main table. KFH Takaful's Bahrain branch is the newest entry: the branch licence dates from November 2025 and the register carries no contact details yet.
How claims are filed in Bahrain today
For each active insurer we read the company's own website (or its app-store listing where the site does not render) and wrote down what it says about filing a claim. Where the site says nothing, we say so.
App first, at the two biggest writers. GIG Bahrain's GIG-GO app lets policyholders raise a claim, upload a minor motor claim and track its status, according to its App Store listing. Solidarity Bahrain's app promises to "file your claims in minutes", "track your claims like tracking your shipments" and talk to an agent virtually, per its Google Play listing. These two wrote over half of Bahrain's non-life premium in 2023, so the app is already the default claims portal for most motor policyholders.
Web forms with document upload. GIG Gulf runs "Submit and track a claim" online and through the MyGIG app; its claims page states that a police report is mandatory for a car claim and that the customer receives an SMS with the claim reference and the workshop. The GIG Gulf homepage describes the process as "Snap it. Photos from your phone" and mentions "smartphone-enabled self inspection". The New India Assurance Bahrain branch registers motor claims online by uploading the CPR, vehicle registration, driving licence, insurance, accident report and accident photos. LIVA's car claim form asks for the police report, registration card and driving licence as uploads, next to a call centre, an email address and a WhatsApp number.
WhatsApp as a claims line. Gulf Union's homepage carries separate WhatsApp contacts for motor claims and non-motor claims, next to an online portal and an Android app. LIVA, as above, also lists a WhatsApp number for car claims. Orient Insurance's group site offers WhatsApp, but the number shown is the UAE one; we found no Bahrain-specific channel.
Medical and life: portals and member apps. Damana (SAICO) runs the SAICOHEALTH Connect portal and mobile apps for its medical book. MetLife Bahrain has the myMetLife Gulf app and an online "Report a claim" page; Cigna Healthcare Middle East offers online claims submission and a member app. On the TPA side, GlobeMed, Health 360 and NextCare each run a member portal or app for medical claims and pre-approvals. GEMS TPA is the only Bahrain TPA that also administers motor claims, around 20,000 a year according to its own website.
Not stated on their site. SNIC, Medgulf Takaful, Arabia Insurance, Zurich, UIC and KFH Takaful either publish no claims channel we could read or run sites that did not render for us. GIG Takaful lists a hotline; we could not verify an app or portal. We left those blank rather than guess.
What is missing. Across every site we read, the evidence step is the same: the customer attaches photos taken earlier, from the gallery, to a form, an app or a WhatsApp chat. GIG Gulf's "self inspection" line is the closest thing to guided capture. Nobody describes recorded video, and nobody says how they check the provenance of a photo: when and where it was taken. For the first notification of loss on a motor claim, that is the Bahrain market in 2026.
What this means if you handle claims
If you sit in a claims team at one of the companies above, the list tells you two things. Motor claims are growing faster than motor premium (20% against 9% in the CBB's latest review), and almost every channel for reporting them takes a gallery upload, with no published check on where the photo came from.
Venta Capture, a product of VentaVid, fills the gap between "send us some photos" and a site visit. The claims team sends a secure, personal capture link by SMS, WhatsApp or email. The policyholder opens it in the phone's browser, no app and no account, and is walked through the shots the handler needs: the plate, the damage from set distances, a short video walkaround, a spoken account that gets transcribed. Everything is recorded in the session, on that device, and the submission arrives as a sealed case: SHA-256 fingerprint, signed seal, server-verified receipt time, session timeline and device signals a third party can verify.
Two honest limits: the seal proves when the system received the recording and on which device, not when the accident happened, and signals are reasons for a handler to look, never a verdict. The existing app, portal or WhatsApp line stays; the capture link slots in as the evidence step. The remote claim inspection page shows how it works for motor and property claims, and our insurance claims statistics collect the cycle-time and fraud numbers behind the case.
Start for free: build a flow, send yourself a link, and see what a submission looks like on arrival.
Frequently asked questions
How many insurance companies are licensed in Bahrain?
The Central Bank of Bahrain register lists 21 locally incorporated insurance firms and 10 overseas branches as of 16 September 2026, plus 6 third-party administrators and 14 loss adjusters. Without reinsurers, the captive, liquidation and run-off cases and the two names merged into Solidarity Bahrain, 19 insurers actively write business.
Who regulates insurance in Bahrain?
The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) licenses and supervises every insurer, takaful operator, broker, TPA and loss adjuster. Its licensing directory is public and it publishes a quarterly Insurance Market Review with premiums, claims and ratios by class.
Is motor insurance compulsory in Bahrain?
Yes. Legislative Decree No. 3 of 1987 makes third-party liability insurance for motor accidents compulsory. That is why motor is the second-largest class, at BD 68.7 million of premium in the first nine months of 2025.
What is a TPA in Bahrain?
A third-party administrator handles claims and member services on behalf of an insurer without carrying the risk itself. In Bahrain all six licensed TPAs administer medical claims; one of them, GEMS, also administers motor claims. The CBB licenses them under "Insurance Ancillary Services".
How do I check whether an insurer is licensed?
Search the CBB licensing directory by name. The register shows the licence category, date of establishment, head office and branch count, and a remark if the firm is under liquidation or restricted to existing business. The Bahrain Insurance Association member list is a second check, not the licence itself.
Which Bahrain insurers accept claims over WhatsApp?
Based on their own websites: Gulf Union (separate numbers for motor and non-motor claims) and LIVA (car claims). Orient's group site offers WhatsApp but shows the UAE number. GIG Bahrain, Solidarity, GIG Gulf, New India, Damana, MetLife and Cigna route claims through an app or an online form instead.
Keep the list, fix the evidence step
We re-read the register and the insurers' sites for each update, and the correction address above is real. If your claims team wants to see a guided, sealed submission next to the gallery uploads you receive now, book a demo and we will run a Bahrain motor claim flow with you, start to finish, in one call.