The international nature of recent developments presents challenges not only to regulators, but also to legal systems. This first edition of Insurance & Reinsurance Law & Regulation is an essential reference guide for corporations, financial institutions and legal professionals. Covering more than 19 major jurisdictions worldwide, it provides a clear overview of the regulations and…
The Islamic financial market has seen continuous growth in the past few years, particularly in the use of sukuk. As this debt instrument is carving itself a prominent place in the international financial market and competing with conventional debt products, we have dedicated this article to shed light on the concept of sukuk, how it…
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) officially published the final version of its ‘Standard for Issuing, Acquiring, and Trading Sukuk’ on the 2nd April 2014. The first of its kind, it is a comprehensive standard aimed at enhancing the regulatory environment of Islamic finance. This complements the ‘Standard for Issuing, Acquiring, and Trading of Shares’ published…
Rima Mrad and Nadim Bardawil of BSA discuss the main factors contributing to the growth of the Middle Eastern (re)insurance market. The insurance and reinsurance industry in the Middle East region is witnessing growth at a noticeable rate. The insurance legislations in many Middle Eastern countries are being reviewed or have recently been reviewed with…
Cyrille Naffah, senior associate at the Saudi office of BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates LLP, reports on a Saudi Arabian resolution to establish a new commercial arbitration centre in Riyadh that will oversee the activities of all arbitration providers in the kingdom and their compliance with its new arbitration law. In line with its…
Islamic finance is part of the sevenpillared plan to make Dubai a global capital of Islamic industry, economy and finance. There have been several recent developments and initiatives undertaken in order to achieve this objective, which was declared last year by Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Maktoum, the prime minister and vice-president of the UAE, and the…
The practice of retaining a percentage of the risk and local or legal cession is done in order to develop the local market to become fair and competitive. In contrast to retention requirements, which impose a percentage of risk insurers need to retain themselves, local cession is usually imposed by regulators as a way to…
With Dubai’s recovery from the last property bubble burst being now tangibly felt, are there any lessons to be learnt from the events that lead to an unprecedented increase in construction disputes? Antonios Dimitracopoulos, Partner and Head of Construction with Bin Shabib & Associates, examines how lack of trust is essentially the cause of damaged relationships…
As population and legislative change drives GCC insurance market growth, Michael Kortbawi and Amira Janine El Masry of Bin Shabib & Associates look at the current regulatory position. What is happening and why? “According to a report by A.M Best on insurance market growth in emerging markets, this market experienced 21% growth in the GCC…
Mamoon Ashraf of BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates LLP examines a growing trend towards greater consumer protection in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and wider region. Overview ’75 Million’. This figure represents the total number of visitors to one of the many shopping malls in Dubai last year (you can hazard a guess as…