Security is as mandatory for insurance business as insurance is mandatory for businesses, explains Krishna Iyer. Insurance companies typically have been the laggards in technology in the banking and financial services industry. In today’s digital and mobile world, technology has been all-pervasive for functions within the organisation. Traditional core insurance...
At a recent Takaful event, two themes were reiterated several times by the assembled CEOs and Takaful industry players: 1. Size matters in the Takaful industry; 2. Takaful providers are businesses and not charities, notwithstanding their important social and ethical purpose. GCC markets currently account for more than half of...
Takaful operators are still undergoing the challenge of achieving profitability and generating policyholder surpluses, states A.M. Best’s latest report. While the concept of Shari’h compliant insurance has existed for several decades, it has gained momentum significantly in the past 10 years. With the exception of Saudi Arabia (where all insurers...
Distribution channels are aplenty these days and may mean different things to different people, writes Suresh Nair.The growing global middle class with bigger disposable incomes has the wherewithal to purchase more automobiles, homes and other luxury items than in the past. People travel, relocate more frequently nowadays for leisure or work and are...
Massimo Falcioni explains why the SME sector is an important line of business for insurers. SMEs are a major catalyst behind UAE economic growth, contributing immensely to the diversification of non-oil GDP, UAE-wide employment opportunities, and in general, the overall development of regional economies. SMEs have a lot of potential...
Peter Hodgins and Tom Bicknell trace and compare the development of Takaful regulations across the Gulf Cooperation Council states. Whilst insurance regulation in the GCC first appeared as early as the 1960s, specialist Takaful regulation is by comparison a fairly recent phenomenon. Even then Takaful regulation across the GCC remains...
Kevin Willis explores the openness of regional insurers and the various reasons for consolidation into larger entities. There is a common belief among industry observers and experts, that insurance companies overpopulate the GCC. The underlying premise is that these insurance markets are inefficiently structured, that ‘bigger is better’, and so...
Robert Grey spoke about the changes to the life insurance sector and the factors affecting its growth at a recently held event. A Premium report. The life sector is susceptible to economic changes. The global crisis of 2007-2008 did affect the life insurance sector. In fact the sector is still...
David Arimpur makes a case in point on the prevalence of competitive pricing in the market. The insurance market in this part of the world is marred by cutthroat price competition due to soft market conditions and availability of excess capacity. This has influenced insurance premium on existing renewal portfolios...
Online insurance reflects the evolving needs of customers – offering them more options and better choices, in line with their needs, writes Alexis de Beauregard. It is a well-known fact that customer centricity is an important topic not only in the Middle East but worldwide as well — the shopping...
