Qatar Insurance Services, trading as Qatarlyst, has announced the launch of its operations aimed at advancing the sophistication of Qatar’s (re)insurance industry, and attracting further insurance expertise to the country.

Developed and wholly owned by the QFC Authority, Qatarlyst has been established to support the country’s commitment to become the region’s leading insurance and reinsurance hub, said a QFC statement.

Doha-based Qatarlyst will be the only industry-scale system of its kind to cover the entire transaction process including quotation, placement of risks, negotiation and binding cover, notification and adjustment of claims and the recording of accounting information.

It boasts of the best infrastructure to support trading between insurers, reinsurers, brokers and other (re)insurance professionals, said Abdulrahman Ahmad Al Shaibi, chairman of Qatarlyst.

'The introduction of Qatarlyst will help advance the sophistication of Qatar’s (re)insurance industry, and will help to attract further insurance expertise into the country, and to the wider region.'

'It will also bring together international insurers, reinsurers and brokers to conduct commercial (re)insurance transactions through a unique system.'

“Qatarlyst delivers on a number of fundamental objectives of the QFC” Al Shaibi continued. “They include supporting the growth of Qatar’s financial sector, raising standards in the provision of financial services, helping to create new employment opportunities and promoting the case for the QFC to be the financial centre of choice in the region, an objective which was emphasized by the Prime Minister recently.'

Al Shaibi also commended the continuous support for the project throughout its development by minister of Economy and Finance and the chairman of the QFC Authority.

Qatarlyst will bring into one system a large community of participants in the form of insurers, brokers, reinsurers and other (re)insurance professionals which can benefit from the access to counterparties, the structured and efficient processes and ability to integrate with their own systems, he noted.

'This community will become the very heart of Qatarlyst, and will benefit from the real-time information shared with their counterparties on the system, both to manage ongoing risk and to analyse and take decisions on new business,' Al Shaibi added.

The interest shown in the creation of Qatarlyst, and the participation of 17 regional and international insurance firms and brokers in its development, leaves little doubt of the business case for such a solution.

Qatarlyst offers a winning combination of flexibility and security.  All members of the Qatarlyst community will have a protected, secure and individual area within the system for recording documents, data and other information in connection with (re)insurance contracts that can only be accessed online by authorised staff.

James Sutherland, CEO of Qatarlyst said: 'Working in conjunction with leading regional and international  insurers and brokers, we have created Qatarlyst with two main objectives in mind.'

'First is the firm belief that many of the essential processes in the transaction chain can be made more efficient through the intelligent use of sophisticated yet accessible technology.'

'The second one is that by building a community of trading counterparties on Qatarlyst, users will benefit from  access to potential new business and improved transaction standards.The response to Qatarlyst from all the firms that we have consulted has been strongly supportive,” Sutherland opined.-TradeArabia News Service