Hayah Insurance has launched Hayah Academy, a structured learning programme designed to improve insurance and financial understanding across the UAE. 

It will serve brokers who advise clients, HR and finance leaders responsible for employee benefits, and individuals planning their financial futures.

Mohamed Seghir, Chief Executive Officer, Hayah Insurance, said: “Insurance only works when people understand it. For years our industry has asked customers to trust products they were never really given the tools to judge. Hayah Academy is our answer to that. We are opening up what we know to the partners who advise, the leaders who plan, and the people who simply want to feel ready for what comes next. A market that understands more is a market that decides better, and everybody gains from that.”

Three audiences

Hayah Academy has been developed around three audiences. The Partners series, for brokers and distribution partners, is designed to strengthen product knowledge and confidence when advising clients, while the Leaders series, for HR and finance professionals, covers the design and management of employee protection and financial wellbeing programmes. 

Both series comprise three levels, Essentials, Advanced and Expert, with sessions delivered in person, virtually and in hybrid formats. The People series, for employees and individuals, focuses on the fundamentals of financial confidence, from everyday money habits to understanding how different forms of cover work. Certification will be issued by Hayah upon completion of the relevant programmes.

The Academy is a market-education initiative rather than a product launch. The UAE is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, yet insurance can still be perceived as complex rather than as an important form of financial protection. Hayah’s own research highlights the gap: while 70% of UAE residents say they feel financially confident, half could not cover three months of essential expenses if their income stopped, while four in ten have no formal family protection.

Low levels of life insurance

The Academy has also been developed against a wider backdrop of relatively low levels of life insurance coverage in the UAE. Life insurance penetration, at around 0.5% of GDP compared with an OECD-country average of more than 6 per cent, provides further evidence of the protection gap. While many people may feel financially secure, they are not always adequately prepared. Improving understanding is therefore an important part of addressing the challenge, alongside cost and access.

Regulation also plays a part. For brokers, there is a clear annual training requirement. Under the UAE Central Bank’s Insurance Brokers’ Regulation, which came into force in February 2025, brokers’ representatives, senior management and specialised employees must complete at least 15 hours of continuing professional development each year. Hayah Academy’s Partners series will provide brokers and distribution partners with an additional source of insurance-related training that may contribute towards meeting this annual requirement.

Hayah Academy will be introduced to the broker community at Jalsa by Hayah on September 24, with the first Partners and Leaders sessions beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026. The People series will be available to corporate clients from launch, with a wider online version to follow.—TradeArabia News Service