The General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF) has announced that its next general conference will be postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 situation and the need to take precautionary measures.
Insurance will be made compulsory for those who take out microloans, according to National Microcredit Management Agency director-general Abdel Fateh Djebnoune.
Bahrain’s Electronic Network for Financial Transactions (BENEFIT) has integrated the insurance sector into the national electronic know-your-customer or eKYC platform, in collaboration with Bahrain Insurance Association.
The first Egyptian actuarial life table is scheduled to be implemented next July, the first month of the next fiscal year, according to Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) assistant to the chairman Hesham Ramadan. He is also chairman of the Egyptian committee for the establishment and study of actuarial tables.
Gulf Insurance Group (GIG) said its acquisition of the entire shares of AXA Gulf represents part of the group’s strategy to increase revenues and expand in the Arab region.
Insurers, private hospitals and university hospitals have resumed discussions to try to reach an agreement on new terms for reimbursing the medical expenses of policyholders.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has issued licences to four third-party administrators (TPAs) as of 30 June, ahead of the formal launch of the Mandatory Health Insurance scheme called ‘Dhamani’.
An official regulatory framework for the application of IFRS standards in Tunisia is still being awaited even though there are only a few months left to publish the first financial statements under the new standards.
A draft formula proposed by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency (SEDDK) to be used for calculating motor compensation amounts payable to vehicle owners who are not at fault in traffic accidents could result in insurance payouts that are approximately one-third of current levels.
AM Best said that it is cautious on the outlook for full-year 2021 for the listed insurance market in the UAE.
Tysers, a Lloyd’s broker, is expanding its presence in Dubai to meet the growing demand for insurance expertise in the Middle East. The expansion forms part of Tysers’ wider strategy to seize growth opportunities in international markets, bringing local expertise and the support of an established global broker to underserved market segments.
Global
Property and casualty (P&C) insurance is set to undergo a fundamental transformation over the next 20 years, with sector business becoming both riskier and more complex, according to Swiss Re’s sigma 4/2021 study.
The world is experiencing increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, which scientific consensus links to the physical effects of climate change. While reinsurers have increased their efforts to incorporate climate change in their decision-making process, many companies are facing difficulties in robustly implementing these considerations, according to a report by S&P.
The outlook for the global reinsurance sector is improving for 2022, according to a report by Fitch Ratings. Fitch expects significant improvements in reinsurers’ financial performances due to higher prices in a hardening market, a strong rebound in economic activity and lower pandemic-related losses. These positive factors should outweigh the negative effects of declining investment returns, increasing natural catastrophe claims due to climate change and a temporary pick-up in inflation.
Takaful
Takaful providers in Egypt generated EGP1.7bn ($108m) in 2Q 2021 against EGP1.68bn in the same period of the preceding year, a fall of over 30%, according to the Financial Regulatory Authority’s quarterly report. Claims paid for the same period have grown by almost 84% to EGP611m versus EGP332.6m in 2Q 2020.
The profits of takaful providers in the GCC deteriorated in 1H 2021 as claims returned to normal levels after last year’s lockdowns and prices were held back by competition. Despite this, growth prospects for the industry remain favourable, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report last month.
Takaful operators in Qatar reported annual surpluses of QAR149m ($41m) for 2020, according to a report by Bait Al-Mashura Finance Consultations.
National Takaful Company (Watania) will provide customers with free access to financial comparison site Souqalmal’s digital financial education platform - MoneyDoctor, the first insurance company in the region to do so.
Indonesia’s takaful industry faces challenges in the short to medium term from a requirement that stipulates that shariah business units (SBU) of conventional insurers need to spin off into standalone entities, said Fitch Ratings.