Egypt: Insurers waiting to see impact of major diplomatic rift with Qatar
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2017
The insurance sector in Egypt is carefully watching the impact on the direct insurance and reinsurance markets following Cairo’s move to sever diplomatic relations between Egypt and Qatar.
The Insurance Federation of Egypt and the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority are expected to hold meetings to discuss the impact of the severing of ties on the insurance sector, a senior official said.
The source played down the impact of the spat on reinsurance agreements. He said the main impact will be on direct insurance. He stressed that the Qatari investment portfolio in Egypt and several Egyptian insurers would be affected significantly in the event of a cancellation of those investments.
Some Egyptian banks have also stopped dealing with Qatari banks and refrained from trading in the Qatari riyal.
Apart from Egypt, at least five other Arab countries severed diplomatic ties with gas-rich Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting terrorism. The five are Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen and Libya. M