ACE appoints MENA Director
ACE Group has promoted Ms Mojgan Khoshabi, Underwriting Manager for Energy insurance to the role of Regional Managing Director in MENA.
She succeeded Mr Steve Dixon, who has taken up a new position as Special Advisor to ACE Overseas General in London.
Effective 1 July, Ms Khoshabi is responsible for the management and direction of ACE’s operations and the continued development of the company’s propositions for brokers, cedants and clients across MENA. She will continue to be based in ACE’s Bahrain office and will report to Mr Giles Ward, Regional President for ACE in Eurasia and Africa.
Ms Khoshabi’s career in the MENA insurance and reinsurance industry spans some 30 years. She joined ACE in 2011 as Underwriting Manager for Energy, MENA and latterly also held the position of Deputy General Manager for ACE American Insurance Company in Bahrain. Previously, Ms Khoshabi held various senior management and underwriting positions relating to a wide range of commercial property, energy, power and construction classes.
Mr Dixon will retain his positions on the boards of ACE’s Egypt and Pakistan businesses as well as its Saudi joint venture business, and will continue to manage important relationships with local regulators and joint venture partners. He will also support the ACE Overseas General team on ongoing projects focused on technical and underwriting best practice to further strengthen ACE’s key competencies across its growing international casualty portfolio.
Mr Dixon will continue to report to Mr Ward, with an additional reporting line to Mr Mark Homan, Executive Vice President, Casualty for ACE Overseas General.
RFIB names SEO for Middle East
RFIB Group, Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance broker, has appointed Mr Martin Pyrke as Senior Executive Officer of RFIB Middle East, subject to regulatory approval. Based in Dubai, he takes up his role with immediate effect and is tasked with maintaining and accelerating the growth of RFIB’s business in the region.
Mr Pyrke takes over from Mr Anthony Harris, who has managed RFIB’s Middle East operations for nearly 10 years. Mr Harris has been appointed Deputy Chairman of RFIB Middle East Group and will also stay on in Dubai in a non-executive role, with responsibility for assisting business development in the wider region.
Mr Pyrke, who joined RFIB in 2009 to develop its Middle East reinsurance treaty business, brings nearly four decades’ insurance experience to his new role. Prior to joining RFIB, he spent six years developing Benfield’s Middle East account. In total, he spent nearly 25 years at Greig Fester (subsequently Benfield), where he held various senior roles, including serving as Managing Director of Greig Fester New Zealand.
Lebanon: Change of command at Insurance Commission
Mr Walid Genadry, who helmed Lebanon’s Insurance Control Commission (ICC) for 13 years, has stepped down upon the expiry of the terms of his contract. Mrs Nadine El Habbal Assali is now the Acting Head of the ICC.
As the Head of the ICC since May 2002, Mr Genadry played a leading role in building the authority from scratch, in a country where the sector had hitherto been unsupervised for over 60 years. Lebanon’s insurance industry has since improved its reserving, now increasingly based on actuarial analysis, as well as improved market conduct, as seen for example in the reduction of complaints and lawsuits against companies.
It was also under Mr Genadry’s leadership that Lebanon took on a more active regional and global role. While he was Chairman of the Arab Forum of Insurance Regulatory Commissions (AFIRC), Beirut hosted the Forum’s first conference in 2011. He was also Vice Chairman of the Implementation Committee, Chairman of the Education Sub-Committee and member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). In addition, Mr Genadry was a judge at the first Middle East Insurance Industry Awards, organised by Middle East Insurance Review.
New CEO for Qatar Financial Centre Authority
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority has appointed Mr Yousuf Al-Jaida as CEO, effective from 1 July, taking over from Mr Shashank Srivastava.
Mr Al-Jaida joined the QFC Authority in 2010 and previously served as its Deputy CEO and Chief Strategic and Business Development Officer.
The QFC Authority also announced that Sheikh Salman Al Thani has been appointed as Chief Strategic and Business Development Officer, effective immediately.
UAE: Oman Insurance Company appoints new CEO
Oman Insurance Company (OIC) has appointed Mr Christos Adamantiadis as CEO, replacing Mr Patrick Choffel who ended his four-year tenure with the UAE’s leading insurer in June.
Prior to joining OIC, Mr Adamantiadis was Managing Director, Eastern Zone and Regional Director, Footprint Strategy, at AIG EMEA in London. Holding several senior leadership roles throughout his long career at AIG, he also spent a year in the Gulf region as Managing Director, Arabia and North Africa where he oversaw UAE operations, among others.