At a roundtable event organised and hosted by research company Insight Discovery, delegates from insurance, investment and savings companies, as well as Arwa Hamdieh of the UAE Financial Services Association, discussed forthcoming regulations and the state of the market today.
Insight said a number of key findings came from the discussion, including an acknowledgement that there are currently low levels of life insurance density and penetration in the GCC countries, a lack of understanding of available products and low trust levels of financial advisers.
Insight also noted that, while there is little co-ordination between regulators in different countries and in some cases within the same country, life offices and asset managers can play a key role in engaging with the regulators to help strengthen and clarify regulations.
Nigel Sillitoe, chief executive of Insight Discovery, said: “Both the industry and consumers will benefit from any forward-looking regulatory reforms in the GCC’s financial services sector. Such moves will make it easier for intermediaries to offer strategic advice and relevant products to the end consumer. Positive regulatory developments will complement ongoing industry initiatives to bring global best practice into the region’s financial services industry.
“Following interviews with senior executives of some of the region’s leading financial services firms, I was pleasantly surprised to find that various new industry minimum standards have now been implemented in line with global best practices. It is impressive that some firms are going the extra mile by insisting their advisors are appropriately certified. This is extremely good news for GCC consumers.”
Attendees at the roundtable included: Fadi El-Khoury of Amundi Asset Management, Farah Foustok of ING Investment Management, Peter Duke of Fidelity Worldwide Investment, Steven Greenfield of Zurich International Life, Dan Rudd of HSBC Global Asset Management, Matt Waterfield of Friends Provident International, Reza Yazdi of Morningstar and Arwa Hamdieh of Financial Services Association (UAE).
