Back to work
Future-ready regulator
General
Focus on digitisation and partnerships for digital transformation
Insurers mine further value from digital innovation
Increased shipbuilding spells opportunity for insurers
Life & health
Saudi, COVID-19, expat exodus and health insurance
Pandemic restrictions push insurers to embrace technology
Lebanon
Proper regulation needs a functioning government
Life insurance as a channel to diversify risk
Major headwinds for Lebanon's insurance sector
Struggling reinsurance sector weighs on overall insurance industry
InsurTech sets the stage for greater product innovation
GCC: Takaful prospects aided by growth in retail lines
New framework to help takaful sector move towards sustainable finance
View from India
Insurance aggregators and the digital surge
IFRS17 to drive demand for actuaries
More insurers in the Middle East take captive insurance route
Supply chain may need refocus from 'just-in-time' to 'just-in-case
Managing risks over supply chain disruption
MENA
Middle East: COVID-19 is 4th biggest cause of death in the region
Algeria: Insurers owed more than $746m in premiums
Bahrain: Move for insurers to handle minor traffic accidents seen as a pioneering step
Egypt: Insurance federation recommends ways to avoid claims leakage
Morocco: Insurers demand more investment avenues to counter falling interest rates
Oman: Reinsurer's pre-tax profit jumps by 53% in 1Q
Qatar: TPA signs cooperation agreement with healthcare provider
UAE: Listed insurers see profit soar by 76% in 1Q2021
UAE: Al Fardan Exchange partners with Orient Insurance to accept premium payments
Global
Dive In confirms dates for 2021 festival; calls for active allyship
US cyber insurance premiums doubled over five years: Aon study
Rate hardening in (re)insurance expected to continue through 2022
Eight leading reinsurers lend support to Lloyd's $900m new cover
Life insurance sector's outlook upgraded to stable
Takaful
Global: Compulsory health insurance to contribute to moderate growth of takaful over next 2-3 years
Turkey: Pact signed with business association to promote takaful
Qatar: Takaful accounts for 1% of total assets of its Islamic finance market
Morocco: Takaful forecast to lead to doubling of real estate financing
EIOPA chooses 44 insurers for COVID-19 stress test
Response to weather risk in Australia will be strengthened
Mandatory income-protection insurance suggested
Businesses still have remote working cyber security concerns
Climate change could be responsible for 37% of global heat deaths
Governance risk and compliance insights survey
Financial and reputational damage from governance weaknesses on the rise
Taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures launched
People risk intensified on back of pandemic
Leading cyber insurers launch CyberAcuView
Hotter cities by 2050 will hit productivity and supply chains
Product Bites
People on the move
MARKET PROFILE - Lebanon
REGULATION
The roadmap for development of the Saudi Arabian economy, Vision 2030,shifts the focus firmly away from dependence on hydrocarbons and squarelyonto other value-added services. We spoke to SAMA’s Mr Abdullah Al-Towaijri to find out what place...
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INSURANCE - General
Healthy growth based on providing adequate services and enhancing the customer experience are some of the pivotal elements in an insurer’s achieving success, says Dubai National Insurance and Reinsurance’s Mr Abdulla Al-Nuaimi.
As the number of people covered by the vaccine increases, more and more countries are focusing on what the future of work might look like. Most people have learned to adopt work practices overnight that might otherwise have taken years to take root...
Shifting channel preferences and product expectations from Middle Eastern insurance customers, paired with a move towards work-from-home for employees, have greatly accelerated the pace of digital transformation in the insurance industry, say...
Governments are keen to develop shipbuilding in the region and this offers opportunity for local insurers, says Willis Towers Watson’s Mr Han Sung Wook.
The Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade and the Insurance Control Commission must have the hardest job in the region: Regulating an insurance sector reeling from multiple shocks. We spoke to Lebanon’s minister of economy and trade Raoul...
In the face of persistent economic uncertainties and challenges, it is imperative that life insurers in Lebanon take an optimistic yet calculated approach in exploring ways to steer through the crisis strategically and emerge stronger.
Lebanon's currency crisis poses serious risk to growth for the non-life insurance market. We spoke to Arabia Insurance’s Mr Samer Abou Jaoude and Ixpan’s Mr Ronald Chidiac about how the country’s current economic and political...
The pandemic has provided a new opportunity for takaful operators to overcome issues of scale, distribution and relevance.
Malaysia’s takaful industry has taken a big step forward in embracing the value-basedintermediation agenda with the release of the ‘value-based intermediation for takaful framework’.
Insurance aggregators, barring a few exceptions, have not been very active in India. The digitalisation catalysed by the pandemic can, however, help aggregators make themselves more relevant and also help boost insurance cover.
The IFRS17 rollout in a number of major markets in the MENA region, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE by 1 January 2023 will provide significant opportunities for actuaries according to SHMA Consulting’s Mr Shariq Sikander, who has been...
Captive insurance has been increasingly adopted as a means of risk transfer for insurance companies. Braxtone’s Mr Ayman Al Ajmi provides an overview on how and why this works.
Supply chains in the Middle East have been disrupted by unprecedented challenges in recent months. International freight insurance specialist TT Club’s Mr Abdul Fahl examines these threats and suggests actions to maintain resilience.
Supply chain participants in the Middle East have had to navigate increasing environmental, legal, regulatory and geopolitical risks. Clyde & Co’s Messrs Robert Lawrence and Neal Ysart examine some of those risks and suggest solutions to...
COVID-19 was responsible for 5% of all life insurance claims, according to Zurich International Life in the Middle East in a report. It is the fourth highest cause of death in the region.
Insurance premiums owing by businesses and public institutions to insurers in Algeria are forecast to rise to DZD100bn ($745.6m) in June, from DZD60bn in September 2020, according to a source with the Algerian Union of Insurance and Reinsurance...
The government’s plan to entrust investigations of minor traffic accidents to insurers is the first of its kind in the region and its implementation is a pioneering step for Bahrain, said Bahrain Insurance Association chairman Jawad Mohammed....
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its 2021 insurance stress test for the European insurance market.
Aon will partner with Catalyst Technologies to help strengthen the response to weather climate risk in Australia.
Governments should consider introducing mandatory provision of income protection insurance following the COVID-19 pandemic according to a new research by the University of Oxford and Zurich Insurance.