JEDDAH, 8 June 2004 — Dr. Mohammed Al-Jasser, vice governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), will deliver the keynote address at the First Saudi Insurance Forum which begins here today, according to Basil Al-Ghalayani, chief executive officer, BMG Financial Advisers, who organize of the event in cooperation with SAMA.
“The two-day Forum will have nine sessions besides an open Q&A session on the concluding day,” he told Arab News here yesterday. The proceeds from the Forum will go to a special fund meant to train and qualify Saudis to work in the insurance sector.
The session on impact of regulatory issues on Saudi Arabia’s insurance market, will have Ibrahim Muhanna, chairman of Muhanna & Co., Ali Al-Ghaith, head of banking control and insurance, SAMA, Harvey Duckers, government actuary department, UK (TBC), and Luc Cardinal, International Supervision, Switzerland as moderators.
The financial aspects: Valuations, mergers & acquisitions, and assets management session has Al-Ghalayani, Aladdin Saba, partner, BMG and Chris Symeonidis of Muhanna & Co. as moderators. The moderators for Saudization and human resources related issues session are Khaldoun Barakat, chairman, Red Sea Insurance, Ali Subaihini, NCCI, and a representative from the Ministry of Labor or Human Resources Development Fund (TBC).
Takaful and health insurance session has John Davies, general manager, Royal Sun & Alliance, Saudi Arabia, Dawood Taylor, Takaful Ta‚awuni, Bank Aljazira, and Munir Kharma, general manager, GlobeMed, Saudi Arabia as moderators.
The session on re-insurance prospects and challenges in the Kingdom has Fadi Nadir, legal counsel, AIG, Omer Biani, general manager, Saudi National Insurance Company, and Louis Zuckerbraun, CEIO Private Risk as moderators.
National Commercial Bank managers will present issues based on their experience in Saudization, Bank Aljazira will present its experience in Takaful Ta‚awuni, and GlobeMed will address issues related to supporting health insurance services.
All technical questions will be answered by SAMA insurance team chaired by Ali Al-Ghaith. The team includes Mohammed Alshaya, Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, George Andrea, and Saleh Al-Henaki. The received questions have been sorted out by topics - regulatory, technical and financials, savings and life, and Takaful.
The Forum is sponsored by MedGulf Insurance, Bank Aljazira Takaful Ta‚awuni, Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., Hemayah, Royal & Sun Alliance, National Insurance Services, ABIR Arabian Brokers for Insurance & Reinsurance, and Allied Cooperative Insurance Group. The Saudi Arabian insurance market is set for an unlimited growth following the recent revamping of the country’s insurance industry by introducing the new Cooperative Insurance Law, allowing insurance companies to invest and operate in Saudi Arabia, according to Al-Ghalayani.