Insurance premiums in Bahrain rose by more than 30 percent last year, a senior central bank official told reporters on Sunday.

Abdul Rahman Al Baker, executive director of financial institutions supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), told the Saudi-based Arab News that trends last year showed that underwriting results remained stable, while investment income is starting to increase.

"The past few years had allowed companies to count on investment income to boost their overall operating margin. However, the year 2009 was a reminder that insurance companies cannot always count on their investment income to shore up the bottom line," Al-Baker was quoted as saying.

Al-Baker was addressing the 6th Middle East Insurance Forum and he added that he believes insurance companies need to develop more niche insurance products.