On 15 October, HDI Global inaugurated its new office in Dubai, marking an exciting milestone for the company’s expansion into the Middle East.
Algeria aspires to become a major player in facilitating and ensuring trade in Africa and the Arab-Muslim world to support initiatives promoting fair and dynamic international trade, said finance minister Laaziz Faid, in a report by Algeria Press Service.
The Algerian government is prohibiting cash payments in several sectors to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal activities.
Doctors in Bahrain could soon be required to buy medical liability insurance to protect against claims for medical errors, under a proposed law that seeks to consolidate liability regulations into a single framework.
Tourists visiting Bahrain will need to buy health insurance as part of their visa application process, with an additional fee to cover emergency and accident-related care.
Premiums in the Egyptian insurance market increased by 25.6% y-o-y exceeding EGP69bn ($1.4bn) in the first nine months of this year, according to data from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA).
The Central Bank of Jordan has completed the preparation of a draft insurance law, according to a statement by the regulator.
The United Nations Development Programme in Jordan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jordan Insurance Federation (JIF) in November 2024, to deliver advanced training of trainers programmes on innovative insurance and risk-financing products in Jordan.
The Insurance and Social Security Supervisory Authority (ACAPS) has been re-elected as vice-chair of the executive committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.
Top-line growth in Saudi Arabia’s insurance sector will moderate to about 10%-15% in 2025, after strong growth since 2022 and a 17% increase in insurance revenue in third-quarter 2024, according to S&P Global Ratings (S&P).
Medical costs in the UAE are projected to climb by double digits in 2025, according to the findings of the WTW Global Medical Trends Survey 2025.
The UAE has seen a sharp rise in cyber threats in 2024, particularly ransomware attacks, with 34 incidents reported between January and November, up from 27 in all of 2023, according to Acronis Threat Research Unit data.
Global
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has adopted the first comprehensive global capital standard for insurance supervision, the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), providing a risk-based measure of capital adequacy for internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs).
Insure Our Future’s eighth annual scorecard report Within Our Power said that climate change accounted for an estimated $600bn, or over a third, of global insured weather losses over the last two decades — an immense climate price tag that insurers have long been passing on to policyholders. Climate-attributed losses rose from 31% to 38% of total insured weather losses over the last decade on average, outpacing them 6.5% to 4.9% in terms of annual growth.
By 2040, technological innovation driven by customer centricity could pave the way to greater climate resilience and more personalised offerings by the insurance industry.
Takaful
Takaful contributions for Egypt’s operators reached EGP8.4bn ($165m) by the end of the first three quarters of 2024 against EGP6.17bn achieved in the same period of the past year, a growth of 36%, according to the Financial Regulatory Authority’s report issued recently.
Though takaful contributions currently represent 1% to 2% of the insurance market, the future is promising, considering the average annual growth rate of over 34% in contribution generated by the segment in the last four years, said Nigeria insurance commissioner Olusegun Omosehin.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial government will establish a takaful company to operate a proposed universal life insurance scheme.
Jeddah-headquartered Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), a shariah-compliant multilateral insurer and a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, has entered into several agreements at the AMAN Union’s 14th annual general meeting held in Algiers in December 2024.
AM Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- (Excellent) of Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company (ADNTC). The outlook of these credit ratings (ratings) is stable.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in cooperation with the National Agency of Perspective Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan, organised a roundtable discussion and presented an analytical report on the topic ‘Baseline review on Takaful (insurance) system and implementation recommendation’.