Risk and insurance management services provider, Kane, said it has received authorization from the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) to establish an insurance management company in the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC).
The new QFC-based company, Kane LLC, said today it is the first captive manager to be awarded a license by the QFCRA and will be headed by Shaun Brook, practice leader, Insurance Management, Kane.
The company said it will provide a range of services, including captive management, risk management and health care advisory services.
"From a global perspective, there is clear evidence of an economic shift from West to East, and increasingly the Middle East is becoming a conduit between the two," Mr. Brook told NU Online News Service in an e-mail. "Many global companies have representation across the Middle East and a number are looking to relocate certain aspects of business management to these areas."
He noted that Kane believes the Middle East represents an opportunity both for captive owners to consider relocating their established captives or creating new captives in the region.
Initially, he said, the captive will enable companies to directly access the reinsurance market. "The captive will enable companies in the region to develop working partnerships with global re/insurers and to gain a better understanding of the international markets which we believe is a key step for these organizations," he said, adding that stable long-term relationships with reinsurers are preferred, "and control of these relationships is increasingly in demand."
He said, "Furthermore, the captive will encourage a greater understanding of risk within the Middle East by both the buyer and the reinsurance market. This is key, as there is growing concern that the region is not being served effectively by the local insurance markets which still need to grow in terms of market capitalization, underwriting expertise and sophistication."
In terms of the types of risk in the region that lend themselves to the captive concept, he said, property and construction risks are being considered, together with employee benefits--a growing area in the Middle East.
Kane provides specialist risk and insurance management services globally, with offices in Bahrain, Dubai, Guernsey, London and Qatar. The company's expertise encompasses the areas of risk management; self-insurance structures, including captives, protected cell companies and mutual insurance companies; healthcare consulting; regulatory compliance and underwriting services. Kane is also a specialist provider of Takaful insurance solutions.
