Experts to Address Opportunities and Challenges for the Region's Insurance Sector at 6th Annual Middle East and Africa Insurance Summit

6th Annual Middle East and Africa Insurance Summit to provide a platform for regional industry experts to discuss and brainstorm the challenges and opportunities faced by the region's insurance sector.

The insurance sector in the Middle East and Africa has been receiving a lot of attention as the sector has the potential to contribute to both financial and economic development of the region. The sector faces great opportunities, which has resulted in an increased attention towards the sector.

“In the GCC countries, the insurance industry has witnessed phenomenal growth and in the few years spanning from 2006 to 2013, it has tripled in size. The premium income in that period grew from USD 6.4 billion to USD 18.4 billion.” said Jihad Faitrouni, CEO at Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company PSC.
“Innovation creates opportunities in insurance as well as in any other industry. The creation of micro insurance, for example, designed for the protection of low-income people (those living on between approximately $1 and $4 per day) against specific perils in exchange for regular premium payment proportionate to the likelihood and cost of the risks involved, is an innovation which accessed a market segment in poorer countries that was previously untapped, and which benefited both insured and insurer.”, continued Faitrouni, elaborating the importance of innovation in the sector.
Speaking about how latest regulations have affected the Insurance sector in Middle East, Ajmal Bhatty, CEO at Tokio Marine Middle East UAE said “With a double digit CAGR of around 18% pa of insurance premiums in the GCC from 2000 to 2013, and similar high growth experience elsewhere in the Middle East, the latest regulations are a welcome sign for moving the industry towards rationalization and durability.”

The sector, however, has also been facing certain challenges. “The growing number of insurance operators fanned fierce completion and forced the already inadequate rates further down to technically unsound levels, which, coupled with unfavorable investment returns, resulted in heavy losses to some insurers and hindered the growth of the industry as a whole.” said Faitrouni.6th Annual Middle East and Africa Insurance Summit, taking place in Dubai – UAE, aims at addressing these concerns, opportunities and challenges by bringing together the industry experts to create an interactive and strong knowledge sharing platform.  The summit will focus on clarity regarding regulatory norms, improved efficiency and preparedness, technology best practices, flexible operating models and latest innovations in product development and distribution among other topics.Bhatty, who will be sharing insights regarding Opportunities & Challenges in Takaful at the summit, further said “Insurance is about the business of risk and risk is inherent in everything around us. As technology, hyper-connectivity and globalization impact what we do every second of our lives, it leads to complexities and uncertainties of how the resulting risk affects us. Insurance industry needs to keep abreast of such changes.”Taking place on 19 – 20 January 2016, this summit will witness presentations, case studies and panel discussions from industry experts from leading organizations in the sector such as Tokio Marine Middle East, National General Insurance Company (PSC), SABB Takaful, Arab Misr Insurance Group, Abu Dhabi National Insurance and many more.