The General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF) is working on setting up electronic links for its Orange Card motor insurance facility, to smoothen vehicle travel between Arab states, said Mr Chakib Abouzaid, secretary general of the federation.
Insurance veterans Messrs Tayseer Treky and Misbah Kamal have recently released ‘Memory of Arab Insurance: Interviews’ – a compilation of 10 interviews featuring industry practitioners from Iraq (Messrs Baha Baheej Shukri and Abdul Khaliq Raouf), Egypt (Mr Ezzat Abdulbari), Jordan (Messrs Rajaie Sweis and Zaki Noursy), Lebanon (Mr Pierre Chidiac), Palestine (Mr Aziz Abdul Jawad) and Syria (Messrs Abdul Latif Abboud and Aziz Saqr). There is also an interview with Jean Choueiri, an international reinsurance practitioner, originally from Syria.
Less than half of the people in the Middle East think that they or their country could be doing more on climate change, according to a poll by YouGov.
Insurers have been hard hit by the financial and business crisis that has affected major industrial groups whose key executives are in jail.
Bahrain has unveiled a new economic blueprint covering a wide range of development projects and innovative programmes designed to accelerate the pace of growth. The plan features infrastructure projects, social schemes, a new liquidity fund, a genome initiative, modernisation of the airport, and new public housing among other projects.
A group of lawmakers are trying to introduce changes to the terms and conditions of policies of private insurers through legislation, to prevent them from charging motorists not at fault in motor accidents.
MENA
Private sector insurers will play a role in the national health insurance system with their participation guaranteed under the new insurance law, which is pending enactment.
Egyptian insurers have started to accelerate the establishment of risk-management committees as they seek a credit rating, according to a report in Al Mal News.
Technical loss rates for Egyptian life and property insurers fell by nearly six percentage points to 24.8% for the first half of 2019, compared to 30.5% for the same period last year.
Leading US life insurer Prudential Financial, through its impact & responsible investing unit, has signed an agreement with Sarwa Capital Holding for Financial Investments to invest in its subsidiary Sarwa Life Insurance.
The Jordanian insurance market posted profits totalling JOD13m ($18.3m) for the first half of this year, according to a study by the investment house Sanabel Al Khair for Financial Investments.
The cost of insuring Kuwait’s oil tankers jumped by 775% in three months due to tensions in the Gulf region and international tankers being subjected to sabotage, reported Reuters.
The Insurance Institute of Egypt (IIE) has signed a cooperation agreement with Benghazi-based Libyan Insurance Assurance Company to provide training for employees and clients of the Libyan insurer.
Compulsory insurance against disasters, including Nat CATs and terrorism, will be introduced in Morocco in early 2020, according to Mr Nouaman Al Aissami, treasury and external finance administration deputy director at the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The Credit Agricole Group of Morocco has received government approval to establish an insurance brokerage company called CAM Brokerage.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has issued the regulations for the compulsory health insurance scheme (Dhamani) due to be rolled out in the sultanate.
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has expanded the number of FinTech activities to be licensed and conducted by companies listed on the QFC platform, in a move which reaffirms its commitment to strengthening the FinTech ecosystem in Qatar.
The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) has revealed details of a compulsory health insurance for tourists to the kingdom. The maximum cover under the plan is SAR100,000 ($26,667) for a tourist.
Tunisia’s new insurance law will introduce personalised pricing and simplified contracts, according to Mr Kamel Chibani, executive director of the Tunisian Federation of Insurance Companies (FTUSA).
The Turkish Ministry of Treasury & Finance has established Turk Reasurans (Turk Re) to support the local insurance sector. The ministry is the reinsurer’s only shareholder.
Around 40,000 people in Istanbul have acquired earthquake insurance for their homes in the four days since a magnitude 5.8 quake hit the coast of the Silvri region, west of Istanbul, on 26 September.
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have reached an agreement to support the standardised exchange of medical service data throughout Dubai. This will be a boon for insurers, healthcare providers, TPAs, regulators and other stakeholders.
Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE federal export credit company, has awarded a business information service contract to leading global credit insurer Coface.
The new Emiratisation points system of the Insurance Authority (IA) has resulted in an increase in the number of UAE nationals working in the insurance sector, especially in technical areas, according to the regulator in a statement.
The number of road traffic deaths in the UAE has fallen by 34.2% in five years, down from 712 in 2014 to 468 in 2018, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Interior.
Global
Annual global cyber losses are expected to reach $6tn by 2021, with cyber security spending set to exceed $1tn cumulative in the five-year period leading up to 2021, according to a report by Aon.
The global economy should avert a fully-fledged recession next year thanks to proactive measures by policymakers, according to trade credit insurer Euler Hermes.
Demand for green and sustainable assets has grown quickly in recent years, driven by stakeholders that are widening their focus beyond pure financial returns and towards broader ethical goals, said AM Best. In response, the market has developed a number of products such as sustainability-focused mutual funds, indices and green bonds.
Takaful
The technical loss rate of takaful operators in Egypt decreased by 9.5 percentage points in the first half of this year to 14.8%, compared to 24.3% for the corresponding half of last year.
Four takaful operators are competing to win an insurance policy to cover clients of National Bank of Egypt’s Islamic banking transactions, according to Amwal Al Ghad.
Bupa Arabia has joined the MSCI Tadawul 30 (MT30) Index, a joint tradeable index launched by the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and MSCI to serve as the basis for Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). The index is designed to reflect the performance of approximately the 30 largest and most traded stocks listed on Tadawul.
Walaa Cooperative Insurance has signed a binding merger agreement with MetLife AIG ANB to buy the entire shares of the latter by offering a share swap without paying cash. The acquisition would be made through the issue of new ordinary shares to MetLife AIG ANB shareholders, the company said in a statement.
Al Etihad Cooperative Insurance Company has assigned the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB), a leading shariah advisory, to deliver dynamic shariah-compliant products. The move is expected to allow Al Etihad to boost its resources and expertise in the rapidly growing shariah-compliant insurance sector in Saudi Arabia, the company said in a press statement.
Islamic Arab Insurance Company (Salama) has plans to raise the foreign ownership limit of its shares to 49%, the maximum allowed under UAE law, said the company in a statement posted on the Dubai Financial Market.