Dubai, UAE – A workshop titled “Workshop on Financial Regulations for Insurance Companies Operating in the UAE” was conducted by Badri Management Consultancy at the Fairmont Hotel Dubai on April 27, 2015.

The event was attended by 110 professionals from 57 companies covering all facets of the insurance industry spectrum such as insurance / takaful companies, reinsurance / retakaful companies, brokers, consultants, service providers and media representatives.

The event commenced with a welcome note by Mr. Ali Bhuriwala, Executive Director, Badri Consultancy.

He was followedby Mr. Hatim Maskawala, Managing Director, Badri Consultancy,who gave a detailed presentation on the contents and implications of the new regulations; covering all sections such as investments, solvency, technical provisions, asset valuations, record keeping, accounting and accounting disclosures.

Mr. Maskawala explained that these regulations were in line with Solvency II, and place a big emphasis on risk management and governance. Apart from meeting solvency requirements each insurance company will need to quantify its risk appetite and put in place a risk management function. He also clarified that while an alignment period has been given it is recommended that companies need to start now as there might be system and operational changes required, apart from changes in investment strategy. The session was highly interactive with question and answers from the attending delegates to the speaker at the conclusion of each section.

The session was followed by a break for refreshments, after which the delegates reconvened for a panel discussion. The panel discussion put some of the leading industry names on the stage, where they took questions from the floor on the implications of the regulations, and shared their valuable views and insightson how in their view the regulations would pan out in the UAE.

The panel discussion was moderated by Ali Bhuriwala, and the revered list of panellists included:

  • Mr. Ajmal Bhatty   :   CEO, Tokio Marine Middle East Limited
  • Mr. Emmanuel Deschamps   :   Chief Actuary, Oman Insurance Company
  • Mr. Hammad Khan   :   DCFO, Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company
  • Mr. Kevin Willis   :   Director, Standard & Poor’s
  • Mr. Kudzai Gumbie   :   Senior Pricing Actuary, RGA
  • Mr. Muhammad Tariq   :   Partner, Head of Audit, KPMG UAE
  • Mr. Taher Fakhri   :   Regional Strategy and Risk Officer, Friends Provident
  • Mr. Hatim Maskawala   :   Managing Director, Badri Management Consultancy

The panellists were posed with some very interesting and challenging questions from the participating delegates that helped the audience to enhance their understanding related to a number of clauses of the Regulations. Mr. Maskawala’s message, which was reiterated by the panellists was to think of actuaries as business enablers, and the advantages of usingthem as analytical consultants to grow business profitably.

It was a common mooted point that some areas of the Regulations such as; the limits on investments, is it a hard cap or only for admissible assets calculation?; how the regulations apply to companies with regional subsidiaries and associates?;the capital requirement for credit risk in the SCR calculation of 90% for receivables over three months; the choices of Takaful model allowed as per regulations; these still required some further discussions with the Insurance Authority going forward. The above is not an exhaustive list of questions