Kamesh Goyal: The region is booming. The prosperity of the indigenous population and foreign workers has grown over a relatively short time thanks to record oil prices. Governments are making huge investments in the infrastructure of their respective countries. 40 percent of all construction cranes worldwide are in the Gulf region. That should give you a pretty good idea of what's going on there at the moment. I'm sure this will soon be reflected in the property and life insurance business as well as in the asset management market.

Goyal: Language is a problem in some countries. It's a lot easier of course if you can speak fluent Arabic. We also entered some markets later than other suppliers such as AIG and AXA. But I am optimistic that we will carve out a place for ourselves in the next two to three years.

Goyal: We have property and life insurance companies in Egypt and Lebanon and a share in the property and life insurer Al Nisr Al Arabi in Jordan. In Saudi Arabia Allianz Saudi Fransi, a joint venture with Saudi Fransi Bank, opened for business at the end of last year, and Allianz Takaful in Bahrain has recently started supplying Islamic insurance products. We're also represented by the health insurer Nextcare in Dubai and Lebanon, and we're selling health insurance in Pakistan and property insurance in Sri Lanka. And in India Bajaj Allianz has been very successful in the property and life insurance business.

Goyal: There are three reasons why we decided on Bahrain: first of all, regulators are very proactive and fast. For instance, we received our Regional Office License in less than three weeks. Secondly, labor and rental costs are substantially cheaper. And finally, Bahrain is in an extremely good location. Riyadh is only four hours away by car, which is important to us because we believe that Saudi Arabia is set to become the most important insurance market in the Middle East, followed by the United Emirates.

Goyal: Until recently, individual agency forces weren't allowed to operate in the country, and life insurance wasn't actively encouraged due to religious beliefs. Now that our agents can start working and are able to offer Islamic takaful insurance products, we're expecting substantial growth.

Goyal: Not at all. We're going to set up additional offices just for women, where female customers will be served by female staff.

Goyal: We're relying on the 80 branches of our cooperation partner, Saudi Fransi Bank, as well as on our tied agency force. Allianz Saudi Fransi has a license for life and non-life business. By the end of the year we'll have opened ten branches. In addition, we're planning to set up a direct sales force to target corporate clients and brokers.

Goyal: Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East with a rapidly rising middle class. We're putting our weight behind rapid expansion with an increased number of agents and go for multi channel distribution – in both property and life insurance.

Goyal: First of all, we're relying on internal growth in the region, but of course we'll keep an eye out for worthwhile ventures. If the opportunity looks right we'll decide what to do.

This interview first appeared in the employee magazine "Allianz Journal".

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