Financial Services

The crowded insurance sector in Saudi Arabia has come under pressure with low penetration rates and rising costs, highlighting the difficulties for smaller firms in the industry to maintain market share or grow their business.

En Algérie, le secteur de l’assurance a réalisé un début d’année encourageant, enregistrant une forte croissance du volume des primes au premier trimestre 2014 et une progression encore plus importante en 2013, en raison notamment d’un rebond du segment de l’assurance vie suite à l’introduction d’importantes réformes et de projets du gouvernement portant sur l’introduction en bourse d’une partie d’une compagnie publique d’assurance.

When the UAE officially transitioned from “frontier” to “emerging” on a key market index in June 2013, a new era of both greater opportunity and closer scrutiny for the financial markets in Dubai was ushered in. The results are already coming to the fore: stocks across the UAE are up 41% in 2014 and 89% over the last year as of June, while capital markets in Dubai are starting to draw more attention from foreign investors.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is set to demutualise in the coming months and sell equity in an initial public offering, an important step in Kenya’s plan to grow its financial sector. The move sets the stage for the next steps of its capital markets master plan, which will introduce new alternative instruments, including derivatives, futures, and real estate investment trusts (REITS) in years to come.

Authorities in Myanmar are determined to foster economic progress and have placed financial inclusion on their list of priorities. In an attempt to tackle demand for increased financial services, Myanmar has taken numerous steps in the past 24 months, such as the adoption of a floating currency, liberalisation of the insurance industry and the independence of the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM). Following these adjustments, 2014 is set to see the CBM grant operating licences to foreign banks, while 2015 has been set as the target date for the establishment of the Yangon Stock Exchange.