For countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), three key issues exist on the political risk landscape: US/Iran relations under a Biden administration; Saudi Arabia's role in the region and dealing with the economic fallout of COVID-19, according to the January 2021 edition of Aon's Political Risk quarterly.
Jeddah headquartered Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), in coordination with multilateral development banks (MDBs), has published a study analysing the current state of the political risk and credit insurance market for equity investments and Medium and Long-Term (MLT) debt investments and other insurance solutions.
Applied Underwriters has formed a new enterprise to operate from Paris and Cologne to underwrite several specialty lines in the EU and in the Middle East, including professional indemnity and D&O, the company's chairman Mr Steve Menzies announces in a statement.
Lloyd's broker Turker has announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind Turkey Earthquake Industry Loss Warranty (EQ ILW) product, designed to create a new market for insurers, reinsurers and ILS companies.
French global insurer AXA announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement with Gulf Insurance Group (gig) to sell its insurance operations in the Gulf region, which includes its shareholding in AXA Gulf, AXA Cooperative Insurance Company and AXA Green Crescent Insurance Company.
Sixteen industry stalwarts have emerged winners at the 7th Middle East Insurance Industry Awards (MIIA), held virtually for the very first time.
Zurich Middle East has launched ZurichPro, a platform that digitises the entire financial planning process, allowing the sale of insurance products online without face-to-face interaction.
Reinsurance companies will reduce their capacity in addition to increasing premium rates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Mr Zuhair Al Atout, CEO of Jordan-headquartered Apex Reinsurance Brokers.
Reinsurance prices are hardening in the MENA region, a development that started to take shape around two years ago but the COVID-19 pandemic and challenging geopolitical conditions have accelerated changes, said speakers at a webinar on reinsurance organised last week by the General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF).
COVID-19-related losses and the current financial market situation indicate that the pressure on the reinsurance industry is coming from all stakeholders, circumstances which highlight the importance of improving players' performance to cover the cost of capital, according to Mr Hedi Hachicha, Chief Underwriting Officer, Treaty P&C, Middle East & Africa, at SCOR.