Dubai Conference to Focus on Challenges and Opportunities for ME and Africa Insurance Sector

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.

20 December 2015, Dubai: 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 (AMAN).

According to Adrian Flowers, CEO at SABB Takaful, “Meeting customer’s expectation is a vital ingredient for the success of the insurance sector, and like other industries, such us telecommunications, consumer products, media and entertainment, we have already harnessed digital to attract new customers and retain the existing ones.”

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. “If we are talking about insurance sector in GCC and if ‘Growth’ means financial strength of the sector then Regulation and its Implementation will define its future. Low oil prices, volatile stock markets, lack of human resource, low retentions, etc may impact the industry in the short term but long term growth will depend on how new regulations will be implemented to boost the future of this sector” said Gautam Datta, CEO at Al Madina Takaful Oman.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.
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.
This conference is being organized by Fleming. to  provide a platform for industry experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the sector. Fleming Group recently re-branded it's existing brands under a single name – Fleming.. The new brand is an integration of Fleming Gulf, Fleming Europe, American Leaders and Kakushin. With the re-branding, the company aims to integrate it's effort to connect businesses worldwide with the best of knowledge, connections and opportunities, characterized by a new tagline - Critical Business Connections.