UAE: Regulator acts to boost insurance talent
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2015
The UAE’s Insurance Authority (IA) has formulated a plan to strengthen talent in the insurance industry, including setting up a specialised institute to build up expertise and promoting insurance as a career to Emiratis.
The plan includes a programme for a functional and administrative track for employees in the insurance sector as well as a mechanism to support salaries, reported Emirates Today. The IA also aims to attract young Emiratis to work in the technical, financial, legal and administrative aspects of insurance business.
To this end, there is an initiative to enable employees in the insurance sector to work for a vocational diploma in insurance or to study for qualifications awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) of London. At present, 36 local employees are pursuing CII studies.
The lack of qualified and experienced staff is one of the major challenges faced by insurance companies. A total of 62 insurers and 136 brokers operate in the local market, excluding international players in the Dubai International Financial Centre. All these operations require trained and qualified personnel.
The IA has held many seminars, workshops, training courses on insurance to develop skills and increase public awareness. It is also working with other government agencies to encourage more locals to work in the insurance sector. Emiratis tend to prefer working in the government and banking sectors because of the higher remuneration offered in the two sectors.
Industry sources said that there is a need for coordination between the proposed new training institute and the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies, which also offers insurance courses.