The office forms part of the life assurance company’s long-term strategy for expansion.
The Dubai branch, which will be known as ITA (Middle East) has received in-principal approval for a category four licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Such a licence will allow it to sell products to brokers with a Security & Commodities Authority licence across the UAE.
Philip Story, who joined ITA as head of distribution for Middle East from Zurich International Life in July last year, will take on the role of senior executive officer at the new office.
His position is required by the DIFC and the DFSA.
After establishing itself in the Middle East, the company will use its new office to focus on developing the business in Africa and Eastern Europe.
“The company plans to achieve sustainable growth in the Dubai office by meeting the business plan we submitted to the DFSA. We will begin by targeting the Middle East and will then expand further during 2015,” said Bob Pain, managing director at ITA.
He said the company operates on a “hub and spoke” business model, where strategically placed offices are used to serve individual portions of Latin America and Asia, allowing for dedicated coverage of both continents.
The Dubai office forms the latest “hub” and will serve the whole of the Middle East.
“The Middle East has previously been served remotely from our other offices in a different time zone, making it difficult to make regular contact with clients,” said Pain. “The new office will allow a more dedicated focus in the region and beyond.”
Story added, “At ITA, we focus on emerging and frontier markets and Dubai is an excellent hub for us to access many of these markets in the Middle East and elsewhere.”
