“By all means the year 2011 will be very challenging year for the insurance and reinsurance industry in the Middle East and North Africa region,” Yasser Al Baharna, Chief Executive at the Arab Insurance Group (Arig) on the sidelines of the AGM told reporters on Sunday.
“The events of overthrowing the governments in Tunisia and Egypt specifically and the events in Libya, Yemen and some disturbances in the GCC in general will have impact on the insurance and reinsurance industry.
“The incidents of civil unrest will trigger the risk due to strike, riots, and civil commotions or known as SRCC.”
Talking about additional damages due to unrest in motor insurance sector he said that in this segment the margin has been traditionally very low for the insurance companies and there will be not much claims to cover the damages if the issue arise,” he added.
How the company can possibly limit their exposures Al Baharana said that the best bet would be going for very selective and quality business.
“The engineering and construction businesses will be much less due to the political instability in the MENA
The overwhelming majority of shareholders of 60.9 per cent approved the payment of cash dividend of $14.85 million for the year 2010.
Arig declared net profits of $20.8 million for the 2010 financial year, representing a 7.9% average return on the company’s equity.
The shareholders approved a 7.5% cash dividend equal to 14.85 million during the company’s 30th annual general assembly held at the Arig House in Diplomatic Area.
The general assembly also elected members of the Board of Directors for the next three years. Khalid Al Bustani was re-elected as Chairman and Khalid Bin Kalban as Vice Chairman.