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  • 27 April - Sunday


  • All of our delegation are welcome to join us at the Official DWIC Welcome Drinks Reception.
    NETWORKING
    Where
    Atlantis Royal Terrace

  • 28 April - Monday


  • CHAIR: David Benyon, editor, Global Reinsurance

    The remainder of this decade is expected to see the Middle East each new levels for economic growth and prosperity, driven by government-led investment projects in countries – particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including Dubai.
    Much of this growth will be in sectors not traditionally associated with the region – think financial services, health, technology and tourism, as much as oil, gas and the energy sector – as economies seek to diversify and find sustainable avenues for future prosperity.
    All this growth will be fuelled by investment, whether local or global, which will require insurance for investor confidence and sustainable growth.
    This will in turn require reinsurance, as local carriers will need backing to meet demand. As towers rise, next-gen technology is implemented, and infrastructure is built, Dubai, as the region’s undisputed reinsurance hub, will play a transformational risk transfer role.
    The DIFC is an essential part in this story. A significant share of the DIFC Authority’s time is spent developing investor relationships, as sources of fresh capital, from institutional titans to high-net-worth family investment funds.

    MAIN STAGE - LIGHTNING TALKS
    Where
    Main Stage

  • CHAIR: David Benyon, editor, Global Reinsurance

    Natural catastrophe exposure across MEASA could present a significant avenue for growth for the DIFC. The protection gap – the difference between economic losses and insured losses – for this region is higher than most, and most cruelly revealed when a disaster strikes. Earthquakes and cyclones are not unknown in the Middle East region itself. Turkey and Syria, for instance, suffered a severe earthquake in February 2023; Oman has been battered by cyclone activity in recent years; even

    Natural catastrophe exposure across MEASA could present a significant avenue for growth for the DIFC. The protection gap – the difference between economic losses and insured losses – for this region is higher than most, and most cruelly revealed when a disaster strikes.
    Earthquakes and cyclones are not unknown in the Middle East region itself. Turkey and Syria, for instance, suffered a severe earthquake in February 2023; Oman has been battered by cyclone activity in recent years; even Dubai in 2024 suffered from the effects of sudden and heavy rains.
    The region already has some national government-led natural catastrophe backstops, such as the successful example of Oman. Looking to the way the industry interacts with such schemes globally, reinsurance providing retrocessional support to public private partnerships, such as national level natural catastrophe protection funds, is one potential avenue for regional nat cat re/insurance growth.
    Property reinsurance buying at local insurer level in MEASA markets has been characterised by proportional treaties, rather than the excess-of-loss structures that tend to go with property catastrophe risk. This might change in the wake of recent loss events, with non-proportional buying is now the direction of travel.

    MAIN STAGE - LIGHTNING TALKS
    Where
    Main Stage

  • CHAIR: David Benyon, editor, Global Reinsurance

    As an industry, we can expect to go through a significant digital transformation. We want this industry to be attractive to the next generation, and there’s nothing more attractive to them than being digitally enabled.
    Over the last 20 years, as the insurance market and the DIFC have expanded, we’ve seen the regulatory frameworks continue to evolve and address emerging opportunities. The DIFC has done a good job of attracting capital, through this constant revitalisation and regulatory enhancement to attract the very best capital and the very best talent.

    MAIN STAGE - THE DEBATE HOUR
    Where
    Main Stage

  • Dubai's booming financial centre, a rock of stability at the heart of the GCC, is the natural hub from which to lead regional re/insurance business. And for no line is this more applicable than in the fiercely competitive marketplace for war, political violence and terrorism re/insurance. Typically bought on a facultative basis, the WPVT market has grown and indeed outpaced demand in the past five to ten years. The number of carriers and MGAs offering WPVT has expanded dramatically, with new entrants and plentiful capacity. Carriers can make good profits in the absence of trouble, but underwriters know a big event could wipe out years of gains. The volatile geopolitical risk environment, regionally and globally, is not short of threats, from traditional terrorism to damage caused by riots and civil unrest, as well as hybrid and conventional warfare trends, amid a new era of great power rivalries.

    BOARDROOM ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS
    Where
    The Boardroom

  • 29 April - Tuesday


  • CHAIR: David Benyon, editor, Global Reinsurance

    Ransomware, outages and systemic risk fears continue to dominate the cyber threat landscape. The cyber insurance landscape has moved fast in the past 20 years, but the technology landscape is moving faster, particularly the explosive potential of Generative AI.
    Collaboration between business leaders, regulators, and industry peers is going to be important to promoting resilience to safeguard economies, organisations, and individuals while driving technological progress in the Middle East. Insurers are now in a strong position to bring about real change – helping to strengthen resilience in the region and around the world – by providing essential business continuity services and meaningful risk transfer through fit-for-purpose innovative products.

    MAIN STAGE - LIGHTNING TALKS
    Where
    Main Stage

  • CHAIR: David Benyon, editor, Global Reinsurance

    The prosperity of Dubai can contrast starkly with parts of the Middle East where the curse of war and conflict can be seen elsewhere within the Arab World. However, the international re/insurance industry plays a vital positive role in protecting business throughout this region and globally, particularly amid a new geopolitical era that seems characterised by unpredictability across large portions of the globe.
    Within this context, businesses are increasingly turning to re/insurance products for war, political violence and terrorism (WPVT) to provide greater certainty through risk transfer, whether from civil unrest risks of strikes, riots and civil commotion, or more traditional threats of war, terror and armed conflict.
    These volatile risks are presenting themselves globally, from Washington DC to downtown Beirut. Dubai, as a leader in financial services talent and an Arab-speaking regional hub for reinsurance capital, plays an indispensable role in providing risk transfer against instability.

    MAIN STAGE - LIGHTNING TALKS
    Where
    Main Stage

  • Parametric products, developing and utilising new data and indices to accelerate and automate the claims process, have made progress within the insurance industry in the past decade. But they haven’t yet moved the needle decisively, instead seen as peripheral, small limit accompaniments to bigger, slower moving placements of traditional products. What is needed to change that?
    For parametric advocates, is the route to success about focusing on proven perils and product experience – such as using plentiful meteorological data to transfer extreme weather property and agricultural risks? Or is it about innovating new data with new perils, prioritising fast-moving emerging risks and intangibles as focuses for growth, requiring deft use of limited historical data, which would make traditional underwriters turn to talk of strict limits or even exclusions?
    Parametric is an area rich with examples of product innovation, so there will be exponents for both approaches, and a market broad enough to see different strategies vying for growth.

    MAIN STAGE - LIGHTNING TALKS
    Where
    Main Stage

  • 30 April - Wednesday


  • Regional Market Update - details to follow

    MAIN STAGE - GEO SPOTLIGHT
    Where
    Main Stage

  • Regional Market Update - details to follow

    MAIN STAGE - GEO SPOTLIGHT
    Where
    Main Stage

  • Africa Regional Outlook and Opportunities session: Africa presents a dynamic and evolving landscape for the reinsurance market, with both challenges and opportunities shaping its future.
    This session will provide a regional focus on Africa, exploring key growth areas such as infrastructure development, energy, and mining, while assessing the impact of emerging risks, including climate change and natural catastrophes.
    Panellists will discuss the evolving regulatory environment, including the implications of AfCFTA and localised policies, as well as the state of the insurance market within the broader global context. With signs of market softening, increasing capacity, and rate pressures across different lines, the discussion will offer critical insights into current conditions, particularly in markets like South Africa.
    Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the industry's potential, from overcoming challenges like low insurance penetration and fragmented regulations to capitalizing on Africa’s unique advantages in risk management and economic development.

    MAIN STAGE - GEO SPOTLIGHT
    Where
    Main Stage

  • Plugging the skills gap: How the Middle East is tackling people-related risks
    The Middle East is grappling with significant people and talent risks that could impede economic growth and diversification efforts.
    A key challenge is the widening skills gap, particularly in digital and technological sectors. Rapid advancements have outpaced the current workforce’s capabilities, leading to a shortage of qualified professionals in areas such as artificial intelligence, data science, and cybersecurity.
    High turnover rates further compound these challenges. Employees are considering job changes, often due to gaps in employee benefits and dissatisfaction with current compensation structures. This creates significant risks around talent retention, as organisations struggle to maintain a stable and committed workforce.

    Participants:
    Dubai Airports
    RAKINSURANCE
    ADNOC Group
    RAK Ceramics
    Deutsche Bank
    Gulf International Bank
    Revantage [Blackstone]
    Vision Invest
    DP World
    IRM

    DWIC will play host to the first SR.500 'invite-only' session.

    BOARDROOM ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS
    Where
    The Boardroom

Opening Keynotes

Meet our Opening Keynotes

VICTORIA (VICKY) CARTER
Chairman, Global Capital Solutions, International

Victoria (Vicky) Carter is Chairman of Global Capital Solutions, International for Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd. She is a key member of the Guy Carpenter leadership team, responsible for driving new business production across the firm’s global operations and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Vicky is Deputy Chair of Lloyd’s, a Member of the Council of Lloyd’s, the Lloyd’s Remuneration Committee, the Lloyd’s Audit Committee and the Lloyd’s Nominations and Governance Committee. In addition, she is Chairman of the Lloyd’s of London Foundation and Lloyd’s Community Programme and a Trustee of the Sick Children’s Trust. Vicky is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Vicky has over 40 years of experience in the reinsurance industry. She was the first female founder of a Lloyd’s intermediary, the first female Deputy Chair of Lloyd’s and has operated in a number of senior executive positions within the broking sector.

ANDREW HORTON
Group Chief Executive Officer
BA Natural Sciences, ACA

Andrew joined QBE as Group Chief Executive Officer in September 2021. He was previously the CEO, and before that the Finance Director, of Beazley Group, a specialist insurer based in the United Kingdom with operations in Europe, the United States and Asia. Prior to this, he held various senior finance roles in ING, NatWest and Lloyds Bank. Andrew has more than 30 years’ experience across insurance and banking, and has extensive experience across international markets.

Our focus for 2024

DWIC, in association with the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with record high attendance in 2024. Those 20 years represent a period during which Dubai’s success on the global stage has transformed the Emirate almost beyond recognition. The risk transfer environment has also changed dramatically within the same time span. In 2024, the re/insurance sector is entering a new era and is presented with one of the most beguiling markets in generations, faced by a web of interconnected challenges and huge opportunities.

Attracting Capital

Reinsurance premium is at new highs after the market reset of 1/1 2023, followed by a profitable year, and a firm 1/1 2024 renewal. New capital continues to flow into the reinsurance industry, across traditional reinsurers as well as the rebounding ILS third party capital market. The DIFC is already seeing an influx of traditional re/insurance capital and broker business, from markets across not just the Middle East, but European markets, emerging African economies, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Traditional reinsurance capital and capital markets, brought together into a regional hub such as the DIFC, can find strong underwriting revenues and profitability in this sector.
The re/insurance sector is looking for further capital to get behind the sector, enjoying the bounties of the new market cycle, with enhanced premium opportunities to deploy capital to great effect. However, the market continues to face uncertainties and outside investors continue to have many options available. Underwriters should continue to showcase quality and discipline to differentiate themselves from the pack, while market-leading hubs such as DIFC continue to demonstrate a state-of-the-art regulatory and operating environment.

Capacity, capacity, capacity

The reinsurance market has cycle has turned and premium volumes have climbed to new levels. Reinsurers want to take advantage of pricing opportunities to grow profitably, looking where to deploy capacity into classes, perils and territories that exhibit strong demand as well as sufficient rate for risks being underwritten. Brokers are bringing new volumes of business to place into the DIFC, and have reported fresh capacity availability globally at the 1/1 reinsurance renewal. However, brokers can still struggle to find sufficient capacity for many of the risks they seek to place. A big question is whether underwriters can rise to this challenge and deploy sufficient capacity, while also exhibiting discipline, looking to maintain their recent gains in rate adequacy and profitability.

 

Embracing Innovation

Technology has combined with the MGA model to create a revolutionary startup model for the re/insurance industry, significantly reducing the barriers of previous generations of market entrants. Technology-led MGAs are setting up in record numbers, pioneering growth in specialty business, excess and surplus lines, and for emerging and intangible risks. These innovators need the right regulatory environment to incubate and grow, and the DIFC has demonstrated it has the characteristics the market needs, seeing unparalleled MGA growth. Many of the risks being placed by these MGAs are being fed by rich data and analytics, combined with technology rollout, contributing to the digital transformation now in full swing across the commercial insurance and reinsurance sector globally.

Nurturing Artificial Intelligence

The re/insurance market is in the throes of digital transformation. AI promises to change not just the insurance industry, but business and society in myriad ways. Simultaneously a source of incalculable risk and opportunity, a revolutionary driver of operating efficiency and data-driven decision making, and a threat to replace humans with machines – AI is everywhere. What’s clear is that the industry should nurture emerging technological trends in order to take advantage of their opportunities, rather than ignore them and become subject to them, potentially at our peril.

 

Navigating volatile risks
Insurance markets thrive on risk as opportunity, but the degree of uncertainty and volatility around the globe is also provides a challenging risk environment for re/insurance companies to navigate. Sections of the world have entered a challenging new era of insecurity and instability, presenting heightened insurance risks to the market, and fresh demand for protection for multinationals and their assets, employees and high net worth individuals, using products such as cyber insurance, PV and CPRI. Regional hubs such as Dubai can provide a combination of local expertise and a mature regulatory environment as a base to broker and underwrite products for niche specialty risks, from PV and CPRI.

Talent: the new normal
Competition for talent has never been quiet in the re/insurance world, but demand for re/insurance skills is at an all-time high and ever-changing. The experience and expertise needed for tomorrow are shifting unlike anything ever seen previously due to the transformative role of technology amid the industry’s digital transformation. This has created a new normal for talent. Any conversation about where to find profitable growth will almost inevitably combine the role of underwriting or broking expertise with the role increasingly played by technology insights. These topics are inextricably linked, as increasing use of technology can also allow greater emphasis on core skillsets of relationship building and decision-making at underwriting risk and portfolio levels. The DIFC has been a beacon for talent from across the globe, needed in order for the reinsurance sector to continue grow and serve the world’s risk transfer needs.