The Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) issued a statement expressing condolence to the families of children killed in an accident in Manfalut.At least 40 young children were killed last Saturday when a train collided with their bus on a railway crossing in Manfalut, 356 kilometres (220 miles) south of Cairo. IFE affirmed that the role of insurance companies is to address the demands of citizens. IFE has set up an insurance consortium of all insurance companies to cover catastrophes. The insurance consortium was established after the train accident in Upper Egypt region in which 350 were dead. An agreement was signed by IFE, Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority and Egyptian Railway Authority for this issue. The insurance consortium covers the accidents of train and underground as well as the results of which including deaths and injuries. The consortium covers all passengers and bystanders at train stations and pays EGP 20,000 for each case of death or total permanent disability. More»

The Cooperative Insurance Society - Egypt (CIS) has asked the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) to settle the dispute between Alaa El-Gharably and Abdel Monem Bakheet over the chairmanship of CIS’ board of directors, sources said. Alaa El-Gharably, assistant secretary general of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and representative member at Cooperative Insurance Society Egypt’s board of directors, was named the chairman of CIS after the board of directors withdrew confidence from the ex-chairman Abdel Monem Bakheet after the latest turmoil in the Society in the last period. Bakheet has been appointed interim managing director until selecting a technical member to hold the managing director position which was vacant since the resignation of Yehia Abdel Ghaffar last month. Bakheet rejected such decision and distributed leaflets claiming that the board of directors’ meeting was illegal as the members of the board were not invited, meaning that the decision of withdrawing confidence shall be cancelled. More»

Royal Insurance Company offered benefits of EGP 438,000 to Pan Egypt Travel, sources said. Pan Egypt Travel received EGP 268,000 benefit as a result of an accident and EGP 170,000 for another accident. Pan Egypt Travel holds an insurance policy covering all the company’s properties and assets against all risks of fire and burglary as well as engineering insurance and marine transport insurance. Royal Insurance Company paid compensations of EGP 21.4 million in Q1 of FY 2012/2013. More»

The bus, collided by a train in the central Egyptian province of Assiut, was covered by compulsory insurance as well as the consolidated insurance policy which covers motors and individuals against risks of accidents of underground and railway, sources said. At least 40 young children were killed on Saturday when a train collided with their bus on a railway crossing in Manfalut, 356 kilometres (220 miles) south of Cairo. Sources added that the compulsory insurance policy pays a death benefit of EGP 40,000 and the consolidated insurance policy pays a death benefit of EGP 20,000. Therefore, the death benefit for the family of each child died in the accident amounts to EGP 60,000, not EGP 4,000 as the government has earlier stated, sources affirmed. More»

The Chairman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde said the IMF mission is still in talks with Egypt to provide technical and financial support to the country and a number of Arab countries. The mission is also in talks with non-governmental organizations, syndicates and political parties in Egypt concerning the US$ 4.8 billion loan that the Egyptian government asked IMF for, Lagarde added. IMF offered technical aids to Libya and Tunisia and hopes that the miserable situation in Syria will end soon. Lagarde affirmed in her address via satellite in the annual conference of Union of Arab Banks in Beirut yesterday that Arab banks have to play an important role in the current period to finance economic projects which create many job opportunities as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which boost growth and investment rates. More»

Misr Insurance Company achieved medical insurance premiums of EGP 60 million in Q1 of FY 2012/2013, sources said. The company plans to focus more on medical insurance sector in the upcoming period as it serves a wide segment of customers as the company achieved medical insurance of EGP 218 million at the end of last June, sources added. Some of the company’s medical insurance specialists traveled to United Arab Emirates to receive training and acquire different experiences in this sector. The company aims at launching new medical insurance products, but the lack of medical insurance awareness hinders this idea in the current period, sources noted. Misr Insurance Company targets to achieve medical insurance premiums of EGP 250 million in FY 2012/2013. More»

Promise Insurance Brokerage Company assigned Egyptian Saudi Insurance House (ESIH) to insure Arab Clothing Accessories Factory with value of EGP 184 million. The insurance policy covers the factory against all risks of fire, explosion, burglary, riots, liability and civil and labor disturbances, said Sayed Naguib, chairman of Promise Insurance Brokerage Company. The company signs special contracts with insurance companies, in addition to providing technical support and evaluating risks. Therefore, customers receive good insurance coverage with reasonable prices, Naguib added.Ahmed Naguib, deputy chairman and managing director of Promise, said the insurance brokerage company has specialized administrations for technical support and risk assessment working to offer different insurance coverages which cater to the needs of all customers. There are also administrations that serve customers and solve their problems during all the days of the week, he added. More»

The Miscellaneous Accident Insurance Committee of the Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) plans to bring into effect the insurance policy covering employees working abroad in its meeting next week, said Ali Bashendy, deputy head of the committee and general manager of technical affairs and reinsurance department at Arab Misr Insurance Group (AMIG). Many insurance companies in Egypt issue this insurance policy, but the committee plans to bring into effect the Compulsory insurance coverage for employees working abroad, he added. The committee will discuss this issue with the international recruitment companies in Egypt to apply this kind of insurance. The committee will also develop the personal accident insurance policy and discuss activating the compulsory liability insurance for physicians in the same meeting, he noted. More»

Wethaq Takaful Insurance Company signed medical insurance contract to insure the employees of a paint company for a year, said Mohamed Abdel Mawla, assistant director of technical affairs department at the company. The insurance policy covers 600 employees with value of EGP 650,000, Abdel Mawla added. The insurance policy covers the costs of medical examinations, tests, x-rays, surgeries, endoscopes, eyeglasses and pharmaceuticals, he added. More»

Improved performance under its reinsurance portfolio and healthy investment returns saw Arab Insurance Group (Arig) bounce back into the black in the first nine months of the year. Arig earned a net profit of $10.3 million against a loss of $11.5 million last time, said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. The comparatively benign current year claims experience under the company's non-life book and a corresponding combined ratio of 92.4 per cent produced net underwriting returns of $8.3 million for the nine months compared with a net loss of $7.9 million in the comparative period last year. At the same time, gross premiums written reduced by 12 per cent to $ 209.4 million, mostly as a result of decreased income from territories subject to UN sanctions or political turmoil, and clients struggling to reach their business targets within a highly price competitive market environment. More»