As 2024 draws to a close, we at the DIFC Insurance Association (DIFCIA) reflect on a year filled with great pride and gratitude that we share this final newsletter of the year, celebrating the achievements we’ve realized together and looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead.
Through events, workshops, and networking initiatives, we fostered deeper connections within our community, facilitated knowledge sharing, and amplified the voices of our members.
None of this would be possible without you—our members, partners, and collaborators. Your dedication and engagement are the cornerstone of our success. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you for your support and contributions throughout the year.
Here’s to an even brighter future together. Wishing you all a joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.
Enjoy
The DIFCIA Team
The Womens Insurance Network (WIN) MENA Conference 2024, a one-of-a-kind event, brought together a wide range of women working in the insurance sector in the MENA region and beyond.
Open the full story by clicking here.
In response to the growing need for reliable credit management, Coface in the UAE launched a debt collection service in 2024 to support clients in securing outstanding payments efficiently.
As businesses expand globally, effective risk management tools become crucial to protect against potential losses due to unpaid invoices. Coface, a global leading player in Trade Credit Risk Management, helps companies grow and navigate an uncertain and volatile environment. Whatever their size, location, or sector, Coface provides 100,000 clients across some 200 markets with a full range of solutions: Trade Credit Insurance, Business Information and Debt Collection.
Coface Expands with Debt Collection Services
In response to the growing need for reliable credit management, Coface in the UAE launched a debt collection service in 2024 to support clients in securing outstanding payments efficiently. Leveraging its extensive global network, Coface provides expert, professional debt recovery solutions that align with local practices and regulations, ensuring compliance while optimizing collection success. Coface’s collection services are structured to enhance cash flow and preserve business relationships, which are essential for maintaining a strong market presence.
Debt Collection Services: How It Works
Coface’s debt collection services cater to companies facing payment delays from clients. By outsourcing their debt recovery to Coface Debt Collection Services, businesses can focus on core operations while Coface manages the complexities of debt collection for them. The process starts with a detailed assessment of each case, followed by a strategic plan for recovery tailored to the unique circumstances. From friendly reminders to legal actions, when necessary, Coface employs a comprehensive approach to maximize recovery rates.
Supporting Business Growth Through Financial Security
Debt collection is one aspect of Coface’s broader suite of solutions, which includes Trade Credit Insurance, Risk Analysis, and Business Information reports. These offerings work together to protect businesses against credit risks while providing insights for strategic decision-making and growth. By offering efficient, compliant debt recovery solutions, Coface helps companies maintain liquidity, secure revenue, and achieve sustainable growth. Through its commitment to innovation and excellence, Coface empowers businesses to navigate global trade confidently.
With Coface and its network of trusted Debt Collection Partners, safeguard your position as the most protected creditor, while maintaining peace of mind as a supplier, knowing that your debt recovery is efficiently managed through our expert partners.
Learn more on our website 👉 https://www.coface.ae/debt-collection
COFACE: FOR TRADE
As a global leading player in trade credit risk management for more than 75 years, Coface helps companies grow and navigate an uncertain and volatile environment.
Whatever their size, location, or sector, Coface provides 100,000 clients across some 200 markets with a full range of solutions: Trade Credit Insurance, Business Information, Debt Collection, Single Risk Insurance, Surety Bonds, and Factoring.
Every day, Coface leverages its unique expertise and cutting-edge technology to make trade happen, in both domestic and export markets.
In 2023, Coface employed more than 4,900 people and recorded a turnover of approximately €1.87 billion.
In 2024 the region experienced several challenges and opportunities, covering an increasingly broader range of interrelated subjects. From my perspective as an Appointed Actuary, the subject of most common discussion has been Capital Adequacy.
As at the half year, there are at least 8 insolvent insurers in the UAE which together account for 13% of listed insurance revenue. Branch operations of foreign insurers also face increasing pressure to improve their capital positions through holding cash deposits locally, swinging the pendulum on an area where they previously enjoyed relief due to their licensing status. Solvency recovery plans are drawing more scrutiny from the CBUAE and control functions in a climate where Business Plans, now on an IFRS 17 basis, are forced to be less of an art and more of a science. The benefits, whilst tangible, are most visible for the larger players with the scale to maximise the return on capital through its efficient deployment.
CBUAE reporting requirements for 2024 also, for the first time, introduced Own Risk and Solvency Assessments (ORSA) indicating an increased emphasis on understanding risk exposures and the corresponding level of risk tolerance that companies are willing to absorb. These couldn’t have come at a more fitting time given the floods in Dubai during April which served as a reminder on the cost of suboptimal reinsurance treaties. This has led to a general hardening of the reinsurance market making capital relief more expensive. Where structures are expected to lead to further losses then the loss components booked under IFRS 17 are now a clear indicator of the cost to shareholders. This has the potential for Boards to make more informed decisions between considering capital increases, write off of accumulated losses or mergers and acquisitions as tools for managing capital.
Falling interest rates are expected to continue into 2025, making the implied cost of capital cheaper (at the same time reducing expected investment returns), however shareholders are likely to require more of this capital. Where underwriting profits accounted for only 12% of the total half year profits of UAE listed insurers, this underscores the fragility of the industry in achieving underwriting soundness.
Opportunities do exist to innovate product offerings as well as to better manage the inflationary trends on compulsory products that usually drive production. These are most notable through investment in technology and digital channels, potentially augmenting existing IT platforms to support much more sophisticated data analytics that are driven by cross functional Data Analytics and Actuarial teams. Boards that are strategic in these investments, whilst uncommon, will navigate more profitably through the medium to long term as they stay conscious of return on versus cost of capital equation.
At the heart of this evolution is Dubai, emerging as a global financial hub and a vital ecosystem for innovation in insurance and reinsurance. Its strategic positioning and forward-thinking regulatory frameworks provide the perfect foundation for the industry to thrive in an era of complexity.
The insurance industry stands at a pivotal juncture, where the convergence of global risks, technological advances, and shifting economic paradigms is reshaping how risk is identified, transferred, and mitigated. At the heart of this evolution is Dubai, emerging as a global financial hub and a vital ecosystem for innovation in insurance and reinsurance. Its strategic positioning and forward-thinking regulatory frameworks provide the perfect foundation for the industry to thrive in an era of complexity.
Risk complexity and the evolution of transfer mechanisms
As risk profiles grow more intricate, traditional linear approaches to underwriting and risk transfer are increasingly inadequate. Risks such as climate change, cyber threats, and interconnected supply chain vulnerabilities require a multi-layered response. Reinsurance structures are evolving beyond simple excess-of-loss or quota share arrangements to incorporate hybrid solutions, blending treaty programs with innovative facultative layers, parametric triggers, and even insurance-linked securities (ILS).
In Dubai, this complexity is supported by a sophisticated financial ecosystem that connects insurers, reinsurers, and capital markets in ways that enable efficient access to global capacity. The emirate’s ability to attract reinsurers, brokers, and MGAs has made it a nucleus for innovation in risk transfer, especially for emerging risks that demand technical and operational nuance.
Manufacturing insurance solutions: insights into the new paradigm
At InsuranceMarket.ae, we recognize that innovation in insurance manufacturing—policy design, underwriting, and pricing—must be as robust as innovation in distribution. This requires leveraging deep customer insights gathered from serving over 200,000 policyholders across retail, SME, and corporate segments. By integrating these insights into product design, we aim to create risk solutions that are predictive rather than reactive.
Our approach extends beyond traditional brokerage services. InsuranceMarket.ae is working to help cedants and reinsurers refine their underwriting processes by providing granular, anonymized data on customer behavior and risk patterns. By acting as a bridge between the retail market and the reinsurance ecosystem, we enable better calibration of reinsurance treaties and facultative arrangements. This unique positioning allows cedants to align their portfolios more closely with market realities and helps reinsurers price risk with unprecedented accuracy.
The role of technology and predictive analytics
The next frontier lies in embedding predictive analytics into the entire insurance value chain. From underwriting to claims management, the ability to anticipate risk events and mitigate them in real-time is no longer optional but essential. By leveraging advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, we can enhance both pricing sophistication and loss mitigation strategies.
Dubai’s role as a technological and financial hub is critical here. With access to cutting-edge platforms and a robust regulatory framework, insurers in Dubai are uniquely positioned to adopt predictive models that integrate actuarial precision with real-world behavioral data. This synergy enables the modeling of increasingly complex scenarios, such as systemic risks and cascading exposures.
Dubai as the nexus of insurance innovation
Dubai’s rise as a global financial hub plays a pivotal role in advancing the insurance industry’s strategic objectives. Its positioning as a bridge between East and West enables insurers to access both emerging markets and mature economies, facilitating cross-border risk pools and innovative reinsurance treaties. The emirate’s regulatory agility, combined with its emphasis on sustainability and technological integration, sets the stage for transformative growth.
Moreover, Dubai’s commitment to fostering partnerships between public and private sectors creates an environment where insurers can experiment with new ideas. Initiatives supporting blockchain-based policy issuance, smart contract-enabled claims processing, and regulatory sandboxes allow insurers to prototype and deploy cutting-edge solutions.
An optimistic outlook for the future
Despite the rising complexity of risks and the challenges they bring, the insurance industry is uniquely equipped to respond with resilience and reinvention. As Dubai continues to cement its status as a leading global financial hub, it provides an unparalleled platform for insurers to innovate, adapt, and grow.
At InsuranceMarket.ae, our focus remains steadfast: to redefine how insurance is manufactured and delivered. By combining deep consumer insights with Dubai’s robust infrastructure and global connectivity, we aim to empower cedants and reinsurers to underwrite with greater precision and confidence, ultimately driving better outcomes for all stakeholders.
The road ahead is filled with complexity, but within this complexity lies immense potential. As an industry, we have the opportunity to redefine risk management—not as a backstop for crises, but as a driver of progress. Together, with Dubai at the center of this transformation, we can forge an industry that is not only technically sophisticated but also fundamentally aligned with the aspirations of the communities we serve.
The UAE insurance sector is experiencing substantial growth. According to the Central Bank of the UAE, gross written premiums increased by 31.2% year on year to AED 35.7 billion during the first six months of the year. Much of this growth has come from rising demand in both group and individual life insurance premiums.
The outlook for the UAE insurance industry remains positive, with S&P Global Ratings projecting a 15-20% growth rate in 2024. Key drivers include positive economic conditions, ongoing infrastructure projects and price adjustments, particularly in the medical and motor insurance sectors. This is supported by a high level of regulatory oversight, which Fitch Ratings considers to be the most advanced in the Gulf region.
In line with these trends, digital transformation in the insurance industry is accelerating. Whitespace’s success so far highlights the incredible growth and increasing demand for digital placement solutions. Nearly 170,000 lines have been written to date in 2024 – more than triple the amount written in 2022, demonstrating the shift within the industry towards digital placement with Whitespace.
In September, we proudly launched the Whitespace Platform in the United Arab Emirates, building on its established success in London and other insurance markets. In collaboration with the Dubai International Financial Centre Insurance Association (DIFCIA) we hosted more than 40 brokers and (re)insurers from across the region at the Capital Club.
Our launch event in Dubai drew interest from professionals from across the region, with attendees from the DIFCIA and beyond, and we received fantastic feedback.
We are excited about the level of interest and engagement since then and our team is investing a lot of time in Dubai to advance the conversation, inspired by the growing appetite for Whitespace. It’s clear that brokers and (re)insurers across the UAE and the wider EMEA region are carefully considering how they conduct business and where efficiency and innovation can bring value to them and their clients.
We remain committed to transforming digital placement as we expand into new, dynamic markets.
Like many others, I have joined the mass of expats that now call Dubai home. I had the chance to escape London’s drizzle and endless greyness, for the sunny “land of opportunity” and I took it with both hands. I have now been here 3 months, therefore it no longer feels like an extended holiday but where I live, have friends and work.
As for my job, I work for Lloyd’s – not the bank, but the world’s largest (re)insurance market. Think of us as Dubai Mall, where all the insurance companies are the shops (some sell everything, others are very niche). Rather than individuals going and buying their own products, there are specialist shoppers that will find the best deal for you (the brokers). Therefore the role we have stationed outside of our London HQ is to help expand our market and wave the Lloyd’s flag internationally.
During my short stint here, I’ve come across a few pros and cons that may resonate with fellow newcomers. Starting with the pro’s; things that cost a small fortune in London—like taxis, food delivery, and cleaning—are surprisingly reasonable here. The weather is terrific (although the sun sets later than I thought it would), the food is sensational, and there is so much sport which satisfies my love for cricket, tennis, and golf.
On the flip side, there are some “learning curves.” Traffic here is a beast—I thought London was gridlocked until I met Dubai’s rush hour! And oddly enough, certain items are elusive in the stores. (Why can I not find wire scourers? And where are all the newspapers?)
As you can see, the pros win. I can see why this is no longer a location people come for 2 years but one where they come for 20. I won’t be booking my return flight to London any time soon.
Registration for our Knowledge Hub offers over 100 online courses designed to meet your professional development needs.
Registration is open to all DIFCIA members on an individual or corporate basis. If you are not a DIFCIA member and are interested in becoming one, please get in touch with Chantal directly by contacting her at chanta@difcia.org
Subscription Fees
We offer two types of memberships – individual and corporate – with the following fees:
Company Registration Fee: US$ 250 (one-time fee)
Annual Corporate Subscription:
Bronze US$150 per employee per annum (up to 10 employees)
Silver US$ 125 per employee per annum (up to 25 employees)
Gold US$ 100 per employee per annum (25 + employees)
*Corporate membership applies to Companies that wish to subscribe their employees to the Knowledge Hub. Subscribed users can be added anytime or removed when the subscription is renewed.
Individual Registration Fee: US$ 150 (one-time fee)
Annual Individual Subscription: US$150 per individual per annum
**Individual subscription status applies to any Individuals requiring personal access to the DIFCIA Knowledge Hub who are not eligible for corporate access.
Individual Registration Fee: US$ 250 (one-time fee)
Annual Subscription for Non-members:
Individual: US$250 per annum
Corporate: US$ 250 per individual user (unlimited)
*** DIFCIA non-members can access the DIFCIA Knowledge Hub online courses upon approval of their subscription status. Please get in touch with Chantal directly for details and options.
Next Steps: How to register:
Once you have decided between an individual or corporate subscription, you can proceed with the registration process. If you are a corporate member, choose how many users you want to subscribe to the platform in your company. We will invoice you for the one-time yearly registration fee and the number of user subscriptions required. Once payment is received, access to the Knowledge Hub will be granted, and you can immediately start taking advantage of the benefits.
We look forward to receiving your submission’s
The DIFC Insurance Association extends its warmest wishes for a joyful holiday season and a prosperous new year to all its members and partners. We look forward to continuing our collaborative journey in 2025.
Regards,
The DIFCIA Team