DIFC insurance sector set for 20% growth

Arabian Post Staff

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) added a number of new insurance players in recent times, thereby strengthening Dubai’s position as a global hub for the insurance and reinsurance industry. The  sector is on track for 20 per cent annual growth, DIFC said.

Over the past five years, DIFC has seen an influx of insurance and reinsurance players with a 43 per cent representation of Managing General Agents (MGAs) from Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East contributing to the USD 2.1bn market. The continuing increase in company registrations from the sector provides a buoyant outlook for workforce as well as gross written premiums, which has already increased by 18 per cent to USD 1.2bn in the first six months of the year when compared to the same period in 2022, and by 34 per cent since 2021.

Recent additions include Hensley Wynne Furlonge Partners (Middle East) Ltd, MNK Re Ltd, Optio Re MENA Ltd, Swan Insurance Management Agency Ltd, Waica Reinsurance (DIFC) Ltd and YOA Risk Services Ltd. They join preeminent industry names including AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Zurich, Marsh, Aon and Willis.

The new joiners cover a broad range of insurance and reinsurance lines that will enable them to grow across the region. These lines include transactional risk insurance within the M&A process, medical, personal accident, travel, property, engineering, liability and marine.

Additionally, supporting the Centre’s vision to drive the future of finance, Virtual I Technologies Ltd, an InsurTech company from the DIFC Innovation Hub, has become the first InsurTech to upgrade and obtain a regulatory licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Virtual I Technologies Ltd has created the most sophisticated AI-based risk assessment tool in the world and has moved to the next phase of growth to be a capacity distributor based on a digital gateway platform between capacity providers, global agents, local agents, and retail brokers.

As a market creator, DIFC has built a globally recognised regulatory environment with strategic, financial, and operational benefits associated with geographical expansion for reinsurers, brokers, independent MGAs, and Lloyd’s service companies and coverholders. In addition, buoyant oil prices, increased infrastructure spending and low insurance penetration in the region have worked positively for the reinsurance market within DIFC.

Also published on Medium.