Page 73 - March 2022 Issue 604 Part 2

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Mohamed Seghir (CEO - HAYAH):
We want to target with our rebranding
a segment of the population which
aren’t targeted by the insurance
AXA Green Crescent
Insurance Company has
changed its name to HAYAH
Insurance Company following
the approval from the local regu-
lators. HAYAH CEO Mohamed
Seghir expressed his extreme
excitement about this change
that supports the strategic focus
on product and digital proposi-
tion innovation in life, savings
and medical. Being locally
embedded with strong technical
expertise and leaders of digital
innovations, he declared that
they are the UAE specialists in these segments and in bringing solutions
closer to their customers, stating that HAYAH will continue to deliver the
same exceptional products and services whilst adding to their product
portfolio with groundbreaking new developments across all lines of busi-
ness. About this rebranding and many other things, Al Bayan Magazine
conducted the following interview with Mr. Seghir. Below is the Q & A.
* Can you give us an idea about HAYAH?
- HAYAH Insurance Company, formerly AXA Green Crescent, is the UAE’s
newest life insurer. Being locally embedded with strong technical expertise
and leaders of digital innovations, HAYAH is the UAE’s life, savings and
medical specialist in bringing solutions closer to customers. This change
tackles two issues, the first one digitalization. We wanted to be a fully dig-
ital company. The second one is the low penetration on life insurance. As
you know, life insurance in developed economies is most of the time the
biggest line of business in insurance whereas here in the market, it has
always been the smallest one. We wanted to tackle this point because it is
not only a question of the demographics, economy or tax system which
impact the low penetration of life insurance but it is also the limited avail-
able products in life insurance which people cannot basically find to satis-
fy their needs. Many of the products have been designed in other countries
and are imported to the Gulf countries so we wanted to be able to engineer
all products and for that we wanted to make sure that on the distribution
side we can provide a hundred percent digital experience to our customers.
Our head office is in Abu Dhabi and we have a branch office in Dubai but
we are looking at expanding to new territories. For 2022, we want to tack-
le the UAE which is a huge market for us and we know that the penetration
has been very low on the life insurance side but we are looking at other
countries, two in the GCC and one outside the GCC.
* How do you evaluate your relationship with reinsurers and brokers
in the region?
- Our brand is very new and modern as well as dynamic and energetic so
we wanted to have the same impact as well on the brokers and reinsurers.
We have prepared our partners for the change and make sure that we were
steering in the right direction for them. Even though we would like to be as
digital as we want, the only way to actively do it was to meet them, see
them and speak to them directly face to face. They liked the concept and
they knew that there is a gap in the market that needs to be addressed.
We want to target a segment of the population which aren’t targeted by the
insurance. I am speaking about the people who are roughly between 25
and 40.
* Are you looking forward to be rated by an international agency?
- This is something which has been discussed at the board level these
days. It is an intention for us because as we would like to go external and
to other territories, it will be monitory for us. We just have some governance * Do you think the war between Russia and Ukraine will have an
steps that we need to follow on our side.
237
Manoj Kumar & Mario Nahas (MNK RE):
We don’t compete with anyone but we
do things that others aren’t able to do
& provide special insurance covers
MNK Re is a Lloyds
broker
Headquartered within
the prestigious City of
London just few meters
away of the Famous
Lloyd’s of London, with
many offices across the
continent: Miami,
Johannesburg, Kenya,
Poland and very soon at
the DIFC/Dubai. MNK
Re provides reinsurance
support to its clients
from all around the
globe for all classes of
business including but not limited to Property & Casualty, Life & Medical,
Energy & Aviation, Marine, Financial Institutions, bancassurance and
Special Contingency Risks. It also operates in the Parametric space and can
create bespoke solutions on a parametric basis. MNK Re believes in quality
work and prides itself in optimizing the turn-around time for its customers.
It has a team of high-calibre professionals who are highly skilled by virtue
of their experience and qualifications. Al Bayan Magazine met Manoj
Kumar, Group CEO/MD of MNK Re and Mario Nahas, Marketing Director
and SEO of the MNK Re Dubai/DIFC Operations and conducted the
following interview.
* How do you evaluate the comeback of the physical conferences?
- The networking is very important this year specifically because after two
years of non-operational congresses, it is a very good opportunity to
know what is going on in the insurance world, meet new companies and
people, and the new products in the insurance industry. So, it was really
a very important congress and we can see that there is a lot to do, digital
world is coming in, higher risk is there, creating new products & giving
solution to the insurance world. Our meetings were excellent because we
are introducing MNK as the new unit at the DIFC. This is very important
for our clients.
impact on the insurance industry in the region?
- The impact and the risk are always there. Unfortunately in the 21st cen-
tury, we have to see a war but the Russian continent was also an insur-
ance world in itself. Now certainly there will be a gap but the insurance
people are here to face all kind of opportunities and difficulties with real-
ity & positivity.
* What is the vision of MNK Re in the region?
- As a group, we are expanding worldwide. We have offices everywhere
but now for the MENA region, our main concern is to give the market
something missing, to try to introduce the gap in the insurance industry,
we don’t want to be exactly like others, we are not here to compete with
anyone but we try to do some special insurance covers which we are, for
the time being, the major ones in this and we are always discovering new
things because we are seeing a change in weather and this change is
creating new challenges. We are number one in at least trying to see
what is coming and we are halfway through. For example, the paramet-
ric insurance is one big subject.
* Are you going to integrate all the markets in the region?
- We are coming in with new products and technologies, so we are trying
to do the things that others aren’t able to do. We like difficult and compli-
cated things. This doesn’t mean that we do not do the standard things,
we will continue to do all lines of business but on top of that we will dif-
ferentiate ourselves from others.
AL BAYAN ECONOMIC MAG - ISSUE 604 - MARCH 2022