Ahmed Al Maamari, Vice President for Insurance Sector, Capital Market Authority said in a radio interview with Moosa Al Farei of Muscat FM that the insurance sector depend of the transparency principle when talking about prices of insurance and we recently noted that  insurance prices are reasonable for most products

Al Maamari said the challenge for the insurance sector is to continue providing quality services and thus CMA obligated all the companies to appoint Omani customer quality service manager to measure the indicators as first stage then to move to more robust state as to quality control.

He added that many  people are not reading the insurance contracts and they trust the insurance companies without reading the rights and obligations which is a challenge, hence the insurance sector endeavors to provide standard policies such as standard motor policy which any person can access and request from the insurers.

The Vice President for Insurance Sector said the CMA appreciates the efforts of the insurers in many fields, however, there must be mutual cooperation with the companies which is balanced cooperation with the aim of achieving public interest to serve the sector in general and we aim to enable the Omanis to take over leadership positions and to provide quality services.

On the continuation of the services during the COVID-19 breakout Al Maamari said the companies proved ability to continue rendering the service despite the lockdown, however, the sector demands more in view of electronic transformation and the coming generations will demand full quality electronic services pointing out that CMA commenced  last year and will continue this year first electronic audit of the companies with regard to  the quality of electronic services and cyber risks to cope with  the global socio economic changes.

Al Maameri confirmed that the insurance sector is able to cope with the socio economic changes in any country  and to deal with the economic recession and dealing with risky cases resulting from economic downturn or other natural risks where the role of insurance is needed which we endeavor to achieve by creating economic and insurance entities able to support the country, the economy and the society when the need arises because the insurance evolves with the evolvement of mankind and the socio economic activity. The gross insurance  premium, for example in 2001 were only RO 64 million and today the gross insurance premiums are half billion Riyals which is great leap during a relatively short period which is evidence of economic and social activity.

Investments of Insurance Companies

Al Maamari said insurance companies are more than mere companies for insurance of motor vehicles, transport means, health and life insurance  but  investment instruments in the economy  as their role is to redirect the insurance premiums for investment in the national economy. For example the  total investments of insurance companies in 2001 were RO 96 million and today they are about RO 650 million invested in the local market, the  stock exchange and the real estate etc. The insurance companies are the second financier  of government and corporate  bonds after the banks. Hence, the insurance  is the life line of the economy and enhances the other sectors in the country. For example the number of the employees of the sector in 2001 was 700 and today they are 3,500 employees working for the sector.

Al Maamari concluded that “ we live in an oil producing region  and thirty percent of the global oil exports pass through the Bab Al Mandeb strait  and 85% of oil exports to Asia pass through  the Strait of Hormuz  to Asia including China and insuring  marine navigation  to maintain global energy supply is  a political and security challenge , thus the United Stated announced last year it will not bear the costs of providing protection to oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz which increases the economic challenges  encountering the global oil supplies and here comes the role of insurance by providing insurance coverage  for such supplies whether on sea or land through pipelines  passing through vast distances and various countries.