The 12th annual Middle East Insurance Forum (MEIF) opened today (February 2) in Bahrain with 400 delegates from across the region to discuss new strategies to assess the direction of the industry and chart new ways for its growth.

Opening the historic forum to a packed audience at the Gulf Hotel, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Baker, executive director of Financial Institutions Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain said: “The Middle East insurance industry has built a strong foundation over the last several years and, looking forward, continues to promise exciting growth prospects.”

“The 12th annual Middle East Forum will set the stage to promote the GCC’s the new insurance landscape. Bahrain has become a well-established hub for insurance, reinsurance and takaful firms for the Middle Eastern region and the Central Bank of Bahrain will continue to support this progress by providing a strong framework essential for the insurance industry to flourish,” he added.

Mark Cooper, the Middle East’s representative for Lloyd’s, provided a keynote address outlining the present GCC insurance landscape.

Peter Hodgins, Partner at Clyde & Co, Scott Lim, associate director Supervision at Dubai Financial Services Authority and Mahomed Akoob, managing director of Hannover ReTakaful addressed the path towards more integrated GCC insurance markets.

The conveners of MEIF, Middle East Global Advisors, an intelligence platform serving the Mena Southeast Asia (MENASEA) region for the last 22 years, also launched the “Finance Forward Middle East Insurance Outlook Report 2016,” a comprehensive guide for the insurance leader to navigate the region’s new insurance landscape in 2016.

The final day of MEIF 2015 continues tomorrow and will witness the highly anticipated CEO Power Debate and the exclusive one-on-one interview with Muzaffer Aktas, chairman, Turkey, Middle East & Africa of Willis Re. – TradeArabia News Service