March 28, 2024
LN BUTTON

Market Surveys

Market Surveys

Assessing industry growth

Emirates Insurance Association’s latest analysis on conventional and Takaful insurance companies reflects a period of growth for the first quarter of 2014. A Premium report. Swiss Re’s latest sigma study on the Middle East markets predicts strong growth in all quarters, with life growth at 11 percent in 2013 and...

Cut-throat competition overshadows growth

While Kuwait's nascent insurance market offers material growth opportunities over the long term, there’s much that insurers and regulators can do to be financially sustainable, notes Standard & Poor's. The Kuwaiti insurance market has expanded rapidly over the past few years with the industry reporting healthy premium growth rates. In...

Is a slow comeback inevitable?

Competition and growth is dampening 2013 performances of Saudi insurers, according to A.M. Best. A Premium report. Saudi Arabia’s insurance market remains one of the main markets within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with premiums expected to surpass the United Arab Emirates over the next five years. The insurance market...

Discerning the future

Could 2013 be the apex of the next few years? A.M. Best views the future of the reinsurance industry. A Premium report. Given the major adversity overcome to produce a very respectable profit, 2013 was a miraculous year for reinsurers. The relatively benign level of catastrophes is of course the...

UAE Country Focus

The UAE is seemingly on a positive wave with a relatively strong GDP (-0.7 percent) and private investment (-4.5 percent) in 2012. Counter­acting fiscal policy – reflected in robust growth of public consumption (+5.7 percent) and public investment (+8.9 percent) – as well as a surge in gold exports to...

GCC growth outpacing developed, emerging insurance markets

A.M. Best makes a comparison of the growth of GCC insurance markets with developed and emerging ones. A Premium report. Growth rates in the insurance markets of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries remain higher than those of developed markets and have kept pace with those of some key emerging markets,...

A hub for the GCC

A region where modern insurance provision was virtually unknown four decades ago is now attracting major international players who are looking to the Middle East, and particularly the Gulf, as a strong growth market. Bahrain is at the heart of that growth, according to Jarmo Kotilaine. Growing quickly from a...

Quality service to differentiate insurers

The compulsory medical insurance scheme in Dubai raises many questions for insurers. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s comments on this new development and raises a few pertinent points. In mid-December 2013, the emirate of Dubai announced that, after many months of expectation and consideration, it would introduce compulsory medical insurance...

Global Re outlook: Abundant capital weighing on the market

International ratings agency A.M. Best’s forecast for the reinsurance sector worldwide remains stable. A Premium report.  The rating outlook for the global reinsurance segment remains stable, indicating that over the next 12 to 18 months, according to ratings agency A.M. Best. The stable outlook is predicated on strong risk-adjusted capital,...

Why do consumers not buy life insurance?

Swiss Re’s latest sigma report examines why people don’t buy life insurance, including a look at behavioural economics to generate better understanding, and offers pointers for life insurers to better engage consumers. For a long time, economists have struggled to explain why individuals do not purchase enough life insurance, despite...

Previous Issue