Insurance News ME

Executive News - Sigortam.net names Refik Berkol as new CEO

Turkey's leading online insurance aggregator names Refik Berkol as its new CEO. Sigortam.net is the first online insurance e-commerce portal in Turkey selling auto, home, health, travel and life products from 20 insurance companies with 7X24 call-center support. Sigortam.net is a venture capital project financed by iLAB.

iLAB is an investment holding company with interests in high growth internet projects such as kariyer.net (Turkey's largest online career site), Gittigidiyor.com (Turkey's largest auction site - also an Ebay affiliate), chemorbis and steelorbis (chemicals and steel e-marketplace). Sigortam.net was founded in 2001 and has currently more than 50,000 customers.

EastNets launches UniRisX eInsurance Service in UAE

EastNets is engaged in the provision of handling confidential transactions primarily for the financial, corporate and government sectors in Europe, United States of America, the Middle East and Africa.

Mohammad opens Al Hilal Bank

Abu Dhabi: Al Hilal Bank, Abu Dhabi's second Islamic bank, yesterday launched its operations in the UAE with four branches, two in Abu Dhabi, one in Al Ain, and one in Dubai.

Salama plans expansion

The Islamic Arab Insurance Company Salama plans to expand its investment portfolio to 25 Shariah-compliant funds by the end of 2008.

Aviva to focus on bancassurance tie-ups

The top UK life insurer hopes to enter new markets in Asia including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Middle Eastern countries this year.

World's largest Islamic reinsurance company set up in Dubai

Dubai Group, the financial services unit of the government-owned investment company Dubai Holding, has launched the world's largest Islamic reinsurance company with a paid-up capital of one billion dirhams (272.48 million U.S. dollars), local newspaper Gulf News reported on Sunday.

SALAMA Launches the Most Comprehensive Family Takaful Products

SALAMA Islamic Arab Insurance Company, the world’s largest Takaful and Re-Takaful group, launched its new comprehensive yet affordable range of Individual Family Takaful products in the UAE market. To suit every need and requirement, SALAMA developed a wide range of savings, protection and saving-cum-protection plans for individuals and families.

Gulf Re targets high-value energy projects

Gulf Re, a newly formed joint venture between the Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group and Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), is set to offer dedicated reinsurance services for GCC mega projects in oil, gas, power and water desalination.

MENA insurance sector must embrace new opportunities

The insurance sector across the MENA region must overcome numerous challenges if it is to realise its potential. The number of insurance companies in the MENA region, about 350 in total, combined with the fragmented nature of the industry also makes it ripe for consolidation - if the regulations permitted it, a panel of speakers said on the third day of the World Insurance Forum (WIF) being held at the DIFC.

Citibank ties up with AXA Group

Citibank, a member of Citi, and AXA Group launched an auto insurance payment scheme whereby a Citibank cardholder can choose from a range of auto insurance plans offered by AXA Group and pay for it in 9 monthly installments at 0% interest rate using Citibank's Easy Installment Plan (EIP).