Nexus, a leading insurance broker in the region, is predicting double-digit growth for the Middle East insurance industry in the coming year, on the back of rising sales throughout last year.

In 2010 Nexus saw demand for general insurance products rise by 45 per cent while life and savings part of the business grew by 36 per cent – a trend the company expects to continue in 2011.

“Nexus has seen both its general and life insurance business grow substantially in the past year and we expect this to continue in 2011 as more and more people in the region begin to understand and recognise the importance of personal financial planning in their day-to-day lives,” said Mahmoud Nodjoumi, owner and CEO of the Nexus Group.

“Predicting another year of double-digit growth may sound ambitious but you have to remember that much of the region has low insurance penetration at present, and so we are still playing catch-up with the US and Europe,” he added.

Takaful insurance is tipped to be one of the strongest growth areas in insurance across the region next year as both Muslims and non-Muslims look for more ethical personal finance products. Nexus has been recognised as an industry leader in Sharia compliance after being awarded the prestigious “Best Takaful Brokerage” award at the International Takaful Summit in London last July, he said.

Nexus, which has offices in the UAE, Doha and Bahrain, has planned to open two new offices early this year.-TradeArabia News Service