BMI's Executive Summary

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The Sector At A Glance

Key Insights On The Insurance Sector Of Bahrain

Bahrain is a market that is likely to achieve double-digit annual growth in both its non-life and life segments.

However, the small size of the local population and the comparative absence from Bahrain of multi-national regional offices mean that the authorities face an uphill battle in their laudable efforts to promote the country as a financial services centre that can serve other Gulf Co-operation Council countries.

It certainly does not help Bahrain's cause that the governments of Qatar and the UAE have similar ambitions for Doha and Dubai. Relative to these other two countries, Bahrain is a big loser from new regulations in Saudi Arabia: these regulations effectively compel multi-national groups who are keen to do business in the Saudi insurance market from within Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain is and will remain a key player in Takaful, or Islamic insurance. However, demand for Takaful, both within Bahrain and elsewhere, will remain small for the foreseeable future.

On balance, we do not expect that additional cross-border firms will seek to come to Bahrain.

Key Features Of This Report & Likely Future Changes

As we envisaged earlier this year, this report includes a completely new and updated Analysis of Competitive Conditions. We have looked at the corporate websites of around 60 companies to assess where they are active in the non-life and/or the life segments. We have also considered the likely growth in absolute premiums, both for the 36 countries that we survey, and for 24 others. A key observation is that there are many countries where the numbers of cross-border insurance companies are surprisingly large, given the scale of the market opportunity: conversely, there are a number of countries where the cross-border insurance companies that are present are surprisingly small.

In the third quarter of 2006, we hope to improve the Analysis of Competitive Conditions and to include actual premium statistics for the end of 2005.

Contents of the Middle East & Africa Insurance Report

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Chapter 1 - The Sector At A Glance

Table: Overview Money Amounts In Millions Of Currency Specified

Key Features Of This Report & Likely Future Changes

Chapter 2 - Latest News

Recent Developments

Chapter 3 - Evolution Since The Mid-1990s

Table: Evolution Of The Insurance Sector (In Millions Of Currency Specified)

Evolution

Chapter 4 - Projections And Forecasts

Table: BMI Projections (In Millions Of Currency Specified)

Projections And Drivers Of Growth

Chapter 5 - Macroeconomic Outlook

Table: Economic Activity

Chapter 6 - Country Update

Political Risk - Core Scenario

Economic Risk Core Scenario

Business Environment Core Scenario

Chapter 7 - Analysis of Competitive Conditions

Table: Non-Life Segment Rankings Of Markets

Table: Presence Of Cross-Border Insurers Non-Life

Table: Selected Local Non-Life Insurers

Country Overview Iran - Life Segment

Table: Life Segment Rankings Of Markets

Table: Presence Of Cross-Border Insurers Life

Table: Selected Local Life Insurers

Whos Who In The Middle East And Africa Region?

Chapter 8 - Regional Context

Table: Regional Context - Premiums

Table: Regional Context Total Premiums

Chapter 9 - Methodology And Objectives

Introduction

Background

Forecasts

Chapter 10 - Appendix

Table: Latest Estimates/Actual Figures For 2005

Table: Latest Estimates For 2010

Table: Latest Estimates For 2005-2010

Competitive Landscape for The Middle East and Africa Insurance
    Reports: Sample of Companies Ranked

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A cross-border overview of key players and their insurance market share across the Middle East and Africa. Tables and graphs show country presence of multinationals across the region. Comparative company analyses and rankings by premium income (life and non-life). Company SWOTS for leading life and non-life insurers, covering network of offices, presence of foreign stakeholders, strategic relationships, joint ventures; portfolio of clients; diversity of product range; profit growth, investment strategy and risk exposure.

Network of Insurance Sources

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BMI's Middle Eastern and African Insurance Reports are based on an extensive network of multilateral organisations, government departments, insurance industry associations, chambers of commerce and company reports. Information sources include: