Talal Abu-Ghazalehs Speech in the Middle East Insurance Conference

 Manama, May 9, 2007

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Addressing the Middle East Insurance Conference:
“Arab insurance markets have huge capabilities to expand and there is an opportunity to unleash growth potentials”

In his speech before the Middle East Insurance Conference, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, the Chairman of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Group, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce for E-commerce and Information and Communication technology, explained yesterday that the insurance markets in the Arab region are witnessing an accelerating growth, although they are small markets, yet they have great potentials for future expansion.

 Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh was addressing the Middle East Insurance Conference, at the Gulf International Conference and Exhibition Center in Manama, Bahrain, sponsored by Bahrain Central Bank...

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh confirmed, in his speech, that there is an opportunity for those involved in laying out policies and the regulatory bodies in the region to launch the growth potentials inherent in the insurance markets in their countries. This requires a conscious vision commensurate with the radical changes that are taking place in the global economy.

 He said that the political and regulatory reforms are key factors in this sector, which also includes putting down modern regulatory frameworks to allow private insurance companies to exercise their business with relative freedom, and at the same time, applying sound regulations that are valid for qualifying companies, while ensuring the protection of the rights of policy holders or others who have rights to financial benefits.

 He added, it must be noted that there are significant differences in terms of the soundness of the regulatory frameworks across the region and therefore there will be no one model that can be considered valid for application in all countries of the region.

 He also added that it is also necessary to ascertain the existence of appropriate regulatory bodies that are well prepared and have the potentials necessary to ensure proper supervisory functions provided that such bodies are independent from any supplier of insurance services and are granted the necessary legal powers.

 Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh said that enhancing the competitive environment is a vital part for developing a sound insurance industry together with ensuring ways for their future growth because competition is the driving force for creativity, improving the quality of service and ensuring competitive prices. This can be achieved only through a gradual liberalization of the insurance markets in the countries of the region.

 He called for making use of the Round on liberalization of insurance services within the context of the Doha Round of negotiations held under the auspices of the World Trade Organization and to consider it as a motive for regulatory reform that would lead to gradual liberalization of insurance services.

 He pointed out that the insurance industry conditions during the period 2007-2008 indicate slow growth in insurance premiums in the markets of the developed countries, coupled with stable profitability, and therefore markets of developing countries represent opportunities for higher growth rates.

 “The greatest challenge that looms on the horizon” Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh said is the global climate change, where some insurance companies sustained great losses in 2005 after Katrina Hurricane which caused the insurance companies to sustain losses amounting to more than 200 billion dollars. The insurance industry stands on the front line with the phenomenon of global climate change.

 In conclusion, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh called for holding the next conference under the title of E-commerce In The Insurance Industry, and invited participants to attend the first regional conference of North African countries on the application of the global trade in services which will be held on July 24 in the Kingdom of Morocco and organized by the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Group with the participation of WTO, UNDP and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.