The Magazine

Inside POLICY this month

28th General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF) conference by the calm waters of the Dead Sea. More than 2,000 of the great and the good of the Middle East insurance industry will congregate to renew relationships, catch up with old friends and seek new business opportunities. In honour of the occasion, our cover story profiles some of the leading players across the region; focusing on the most powerful companies in each country and those individuals shaping the future of the industry. Our focus is unashamedly on leading Arab companies, although a few global players are also included.
We interview three of these individuals (Isam Abdelkhaliq, CEO of Arab Orient Insurance; Yassir Albaharna, CEO of Arig and Farid Chedid, CEO of Chedid Re), while the competitive Jordanian insurance market falls under the spotlight in our country market report.
The challenges and opportunities facing the global takaful sector come into focus as we assess the key findings of The World Takaful Report 2010 and the World Islamic Insurance Directory 2010, which were revealed at a recent conference in Dubai. The rising star of Islamic insurance continues to shine brightly but uncertainty surrounds areas such as corporate governance and shari’a-compliance.
In his regular column, Michael Gertsch, chief underwriting officer at Gulf Re, discusses direct and indirect exposures when it comes to natural disasters. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s and AM Best have been busy with ratings movements in our regional news – find out who made the grade.
Finally, my congratulations to all the winners at the Middle East Insurance Awards 2010, hosted by Policy magazine, which took place at a glittering ceremony in Dubai. Chedid Re, Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance (AMAN) and Axa were among the winners but I will take this opportunity to single out the winner of the “Public Awareness Campaign of the Year”. Created by artist Khaled Al Hashemi (and supported by the Bahrain Insurance Association, Central Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance) the “Taamina” (a play on the Arabic word for insurance) comic-based awareness drive is proving to be a hit throughout the Arab world. A fine example of an innovative campaign, with widespread support, that addresses the fundamental problem of raising the awareness of personal lines in the region.
Visit our website www.policy.ae for full coverage of the seventh annual INSUREX 2010 conference that took place in April, which explored a diverse range of new growth areas from financial lines to personal lines. Looking ahead, the conference season may be cooling down as the summer heat intensifies but we look forward to seeing you at what promises to be the best GAIF event yet from May 17 to 18 (www. gaif2010.com).

Hussain Hadi
Editor