The mission to boost professional standards across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region continues at a pace for the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) as we look towards the New Year.
The enthusiasm and commitment shown by the UAE Central Bank and now Kuwait’s regulator to mandate qualifications attainment for senior professionals is starting to cascade down to lower employment ranks and that is an encouraging sign.
We remain hopeful that this has set a precedent for other GCC nations to follow suit so that the spotlight remains on the importance of qualifications attainment and continuing professional development.
Investment in talent retains employees
The issue of how corporates attract and retain their employees has long been a preoccupation within the region’s insurance sector and the predicament will be as prominent as ever in 2026.
Without doubt, the investment by employers in the professional development of their advisers is an undisputed means of doing this; nurturing home-grown talent via qualifications attainment and delivering continuing professional development shows a dedication that not only goes a long way to securing employee loyalty, but also ensures that advisors are abreast of salient issues impacted by an ever evolving political and economic landscape.
This is key for corporates to ensure their employees continue to provide appropriate and current advice and guidance to the end user or consumer. The CII’s Professional Partner Firm programme (IPPF) has gone a long way in recognising those corporates in the region who are committed to assisting their employees’ professional development aims.
IPPFs can prove that they adhere to the CII’s best practice and robust standards and as such are certified and the programme is being brilliantly received. Companies who are now IPPFs include Marsh, Lockton, Braxtone, Fidelity, City Marine and Fidelity, to name a few, and we look forward to making further announcements about new additions to the programme in the New Year.
How the CII’s ‘Professional Map’ is helping
Propelling careers and enabling advisers to realise their ambitions has always been a key aim of the CII and was behind the creation and introduction of our “Professional Map” initiative last year.
This is an international benchmark for excellence in the insurance and personal finance professions, setting out the behaviours and technical expertise at the heart of what it means to be a well-rounded professional today. Anyone who is a member of the CII has access to this essential guide, which is a valuable tool for enabling professional development in alignment with the respective market’s needs.
Providing learning materials and content in a manner that accommodates working life and ensures efficiency and flexibility is also key to meeting professional development requirements and will continue to be a key factor for advisors who need to balance their day job with learning. The CII provides online, on demand content, including webinars, workshops and insight sessions, allowing study anywhere at any time, and also provides remote invigilation options for students who are unable to access physical exam centres.
Other offerings that are in demand
In terms of the learning content provided by the CII, anticipating market requirements and arming advisers with insightful technical knowledge is crucial to our proposition. As the sector becomes more digitised, topics such as insurtech, data analytics and cybersecurity are becoming more in demand.
Collaborating with highly skilled and knowledgeable partners is part of the CII’s mission to deliver robust and relevant content, our Introduction to Data Science and AI, developed in tandem with the Southampton Data Science Academy, a prominent think-tank and pioneer in the sector, being a key example.
Specific to the Middle East region is the CII’s partnership with leading government-supported training entities that are making a contribution to nationalisation programmes, the main aim of which is the up-skilling of the indigenous population, enabling them to make a positive contribution to the insurance and financial planning sectors in their respective nations.
We continue to work closely with the Emirates Institute of Finance in the UAE and the Financial Academy of Saudi Arabia providing training and qualifications that propel professional development.
The ability to provide bespoke learning material that accommodates cultural nuances and is available in the Arabic language remains central to these joint initiatives, and we were pleased to see recently how students studying with the EIF attained an impressive 100% score. We look forward to working in close collaboration with these entities as 2026 unfolds and new cohorts of professionals seek to attain internationally recognised qualifications.
Focus shifting towards ‘soft skills’
In addition to enabling technical ability, the importance for advisers of possessing soft skills is also shaping the type of content that the CII is providing across its learning platforms. With digital tools now handling much of the technical work, human advisers differentiate themselves through relationship-building, negotiation, and problem-solving skills. Insurance is built on trust making empathy and active listening absolutely vital to understanding client needs.
Courses, workshops and seminars focused on developing leadership and interpersonal skills are readily available and we have witnessed a strong appetite for them from the local market. Emotional intelligence remains a key attribute for advisors dealing with stressed and anxious clients, and this is supplemented with purposeful CII initiatives.
For example, a landmark guide to help insurance and personal finance firms to better identify, support, and deliver fair outcomes for customers in vulnerable circumstances, has been recently introduced. Called “Managing Customer Vulnerability in Insurance and Personal Finance: A Practical Implementation Guide” it provides actionable direction on translating regulatory principles into practice.
Reasons to join CII Middle East
We continue to espouse the value of CII membership to the Middle East insurance community, the benefits including immediate access to a consistent wealth of information, learning and insight to ensure relevance, knowledge and technical ability.
Being a CII member also provides outstanding support for those working towards qualifications, offering up online revision support and study guidance delivered via a variety of methods to suit the individual learner. It also ensures that CPD is ongoing, with members able to benchmark and ensure their progress via the MyCII account.
Renewing membership also allows an adviser to use their CII qualification designation after their name, a key differentiator in an increasingly competitive sector. A CII designation is the ultimate evidence that an advisor upholds the CII’s highest standards and adheres to a strict code of ethics and principles, therefore instilling trust and confidence in the end-user.
That augurs well not just for the individual, but for the Middle East insurance sector as a whole as the market continues to mature, and where a key aim is to become both resilient and future-proofed.
Gaenor Jones is regional director of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), Middle East and Central & South Asia.
