The scourge of inflation
General
Speeding up digitalisation - an InsurTech's perspective
View from India - Brokers have a critical role
Life & health
Health insurance premia set to rise in 2022
Life and health insurance in the era of COVID
Türkiye
Tougher insurance regulation
High-growth life insurance market
A resilient market put to the test
Reinsurance industry on solid ground
Net profit slips despite continued GWP growth
Predicting reinsurance pricing is ambitious
Trying times ahead for reinsurers
COVID-19 and climate change dictate reinsurance outlook
Reinsurance review and outlook
Reinsurance in the GCC - pitfalls and challenges
Bringing AI to takaful in the UAE
New regulations to create momentum for actuaries
What salespeople should look for in an employer
Having the right plan and tech for IFRS17
Strategic thinking in the age of artificial intelligence
MENA
GCC: General Pension and Social Security Authority implements unified system for insurance protection
Bahrain: Medical and life insurance business drive growth in insurance market in 1H2021
Egypt: Technical profits and sales growth by insurers make reinsurance contract negotiations easier
Kuwait: New compulsory health insurance policy to cost $430 a year
Lebanon: Premiums on new insurance policies to be paid in 'fresh dollars' starting 2022
Oman: Regulator launches insurance e-services
Tunisia: Call to improve structures to reduce motor accidents
Turkey: Regulator publishes minimum capital required for various insurance lines of business
UAE: Kay International expands to the US
UAE: Health insurance premiums forecast to increase by more than 8% in 2022
Global
Global insured Nat CAT losses rise to $112bn in 2021, the fourth highest on record
Global: Property CAT reinsurance rates to rise double-digit at renewals
US: Tornado outbreak adds to 2021 insurance losses, but seems manageable
Takaful
Bahrain: Takaful contributions register flat growth in 1H2021
Egypt: Takaful contributions command 9% of GWP in 3Q2021
Morocco: Regulator issues first three takaful licences
Qatar: Beema to go public
Ninety-five percent of global insurers believe climate risk is investment risk
Environmental risks rank bottom of business leaders' concerns
Climate risks: Investment capital needed to protect global economy
Senior citizens targeted by ransomware, young fall for TikTok
5,000 new homes to be built in areas at highest risk of flood
US: Climate change will push up property insurance costs
Looming threat of fraud on global insurance
Over half of patients don't trust telehealth services
One third of critical infrastructure organisations will experience a security breach by 2025
Product bites
People on the move
REINSURANCE
Buy Now
MARKET PROFILE - Türkiye
The Turkish operating environment continues to be volatile, with thelira losing more than 40% of its value against the US dollar and inflation running at more than 20% in the last quarter of 2021. It remains to be seen whether the six listed Turkish...
INSURANCE - Life & health
Healthcare costs and health insurance premia are expected to rise for consumers in the Middle East markets in 2022 due to the increased demand post-COVID-19 - and also due to normal inflationary pressures. However, certain factors like the use of...
NOTEBOOK
With the deadline for IFRS17 compliance bearing down on insurers, AJMS Global’s Mr Abhishek Jajoo gave us his thoughts on some of the related challenges insurers will face in the next two years, and what steps can be taken to address them.
There comes a point where inflation ceases to be the sole concern of economists and central bankers and starts to affect every business everywhere.
Having witnessed first-hand the state of digitalisation of insurers in the UAE and wider MENA region over the last four years, PolicyBazaar’s Mr Neeraj Gupta spoke to us about the main hurdles currently facing the industry and what insurers...
The Indian insurance sector is growing fast relative to other markets and brokers have played a vital role in this. Middle East Insurance Review spoke to Prudent Insurance Brokers’ Mr Pavanjit Singh Dhingra about the issues that the Indian...
Turkey is in a curious position in terms of its development potential. It has a population of over 84m people, renownedfor being hard working and productive - and yet the vast potential for the development of the insurance market hasnot been...
Life insurance business in Turkey continues to register progress despite exceptional economic challenges.
The odds seem stacked against Turkey’s non-life insurance industry, particularly with the depreciation of the lira andpoor underwriting performance last year. But Turkish insurers are used to challenging conditions and thecountry’s...
Despite witnessing slower growth, life insurance is benefiting from the pandemic’s impact on consumer risk awareness. With the support of technology, there is huge potential ahead, especially in MENA, says General Reinsurance (Gen Re)’s...
On top of COVID-19, reinsurers in the MENA region are facing pressures from a multitude of sources in what looks to be a challenging operating environment in 2022, says Fitch Ratings’ Mr Graham Coutts.
With COVID-19 and climate change still the dominant factors affecting market forces, Trust Re’s Mr Yassir Albaharna discusses the main things reinsurers will have to take into consideration in 2022.
In light of Al Hilal Takaful’s rebrand to YAS Takaful, we spoke to Mr Andrew Smith to find out more about his vision and strategy for the company in the digital, post-pandemic landscape.
Regulatory changes will give fresh impetus to the actuarial profession in the MENA region as companies race to comply with the IFRS17 mandate, says Actuarial Partners’ Mr Zainal Kassim.
With the accelerated adoption of technology and digital tools having significantly changed consumer demands and expectations, Bayzat’s Mr Tarek Bayaa discusses the most important things insurance brokerage salespeople need to look for in an...
For readers familiar with Professor El Namaki’s work, Strategic thinking in the age of artificial intelligence, his latest book, will be something of a treat.
The General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) has been entrusted to implement thesystem of extending insurance protection for Emiratis working in the GCC region as well as for GCC citizens working in the UAE.
The insurance industry has shown positive results for the six months ended 30 June 2021, with gross premiums/contributions generated in the domestic market amounting to BHD143.7m ($381m), up 6.7% y-o-y, said the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).
Renewing reinsurance contracts for 2022 is not an easy matter, given the large compensation costs incurred by reinsurers over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and significant scale of natural disasters, said a senior executive.
Insurers are increasingly concerned about the implications of climate risk, with 95% confirming it will have a significant impact on portfolio construction over the next two years according to BlackRock’s 10th annual Global Insurance Report.
Environmental issues are at the bottom of business leaders’ concerns and set to fall further in 2022 according to specialist insurer Beazley’s new report Spotlight on Environmental Risks.
Resilience to severe climate impacts will only be possible when existing systemic market failures are addressed according to a new report Risk & Resilience by Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI).