IGI looks to Africa and Asia for growth

Jordan-based insurer International General Insurance (IGI) is aiming to continue its strategy of steady growth by harnessing local expertise and sticking to the values it was founded on.

Waleed Jabsheh, president of IGI, told Monte Carlo Today that despite a challenging market the company has had a good year so far, with growth of 2 percent and its bottom line strengthening by around 25 percent. In addition, IGI’s combined ratio fell from 87 percent to 82 percent in the first half of this year.

Jabsheh said IGI was looking at Africa as a place to write more business, adding that the company is also looking to diversify, going into lines such as renewable energy and legal expenses, as well as medical malpractice.

He added that IGI was also looking at Asia, especially Malaysia, where there are plans to turn the firm’s office in Kuala Lumpur into a hub. “The key is to use local experience—some lose sight of that.”

He pointed out that every country has different traditions and different ways of viewing matters, and that local knowledge was the key to unlocking potential. This is especially important in the Middle East, where people entering the market for the first time should not presume that the entire region shared the same values, he said.

Andreas Loucaides, chief executive officer of IGI, said the company was waiting to see what happens in the UK in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union.

He said that it was still very early days with regard to the situation and that as a member of the International Underwriting Association, IGI would make sure that the industry does not lose out from withdrawal from the EU, with passporting being an especially important topic for the negotiations to resolve.

Jabsheh concluded by stressing that although the company has now rebranded itself, the values that it has based its business on remain the same. As he told Monte Carlo Today, there’s a simple rule that works in the case of IGI: “If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.”