Manama, Bahrain:  The second and final day of the 2019 InsurByte conference held at the Gulf Hotel emphasized the importance of AI within the Insurance industry, and the way forward in InsurTech as the market for online insurance products and services will continue to grow. 45 speakers, and 300+ delegates from various industries attended the conference discussing the challenges, trends and opportunities in the insurance space in Bahrain.

 Bahrain FinTech Bay held InsurByte 2019 under the patronage of Central Bank of Bahrain titled “Reimagining Insurance” on June 12th & 13th at the Gulf Convention Centre. The two-day event is in strategic partnership with the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF), Tamkeen, the Bahrain Insurance Association (BIA), and FinTech Consortium.

InsurByte kicked off by welcoming remarks from Khalid Saad, CEO, Bahrain FinTech Bay  “This event will have a profound impact on the insurance industry in Bahrain. We have a thriving insurance sector with various players, and the competition is fierce. However the industry understand these changes, and had a clear understanding that the path forward will keep changing as the technology changes. Will look forward to collaborating with regional and international partners to create a positive shift.”

In addition,  the Insurance Digitization Report 2019 was launched during the opening session. The report was curated in collaboration with Roland Berger and BIA Insurance.  

Following the welcoming remark, an introduction on the changing landscape of the Insurance Industry in the MENA region by Abdul Rahman Baker, Executive Director - Financial Institutions Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain.  The Keynote speech was delivered by Peter Haslebacher CEO APACInsurTech Ltdshedding light on the current view of InsurTech, and presenting a framework on what APACInsurTech Ltd. does. The company specializes in helping InsurTech start-ups as well as mature technology solution providers to enter and expand market activities in Asia Pacific (APAC).

International speakers included Juergen Stoffel, Managing Director IT & Group CIO - Hannover Re Group, Carl Bauer, Founding Partner - Eos Venture Partners, Michele Grosso, CEO & Co-Founder -Democrance, Walid Daniel Dib, Co-Founder -Addenda, Tobias Taupitz, CEO & Co-Founder -Laka, Ambareen Musa, Founder & CEO -souqalmal.com, Andrew Warburton, General Manager - Istanbul InsurTech Hub, Achim Klennert, Group Managing Director - Hannover Re, Abhishek Shah, Co-Founder & CEO -Wellthy Therapeutics, and Peter W. Haslebacher, CEO – APAC InsurTech, Honk Kong.

The two day event featured interactive panels with industry specialists from the Central Bank of Bahrain, Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF), Bahrain EDB, AXA Insurance, NEC Payments, SNIC Insurance, and MasterCard.  Speakers included Abdulrahman Al Baker​, Executive Director - Financial Institutions Supervision, and  Mohamed Shamsi​, Head - Conventional Insurance & Reinsurance Firms Supervision - Central Bank of Bahrain. Additional speakers included Enas Asiri, General Manager, Bahrain National Life Assurance, and  Buthaina Amin, Director, Legal Affairs -Bahrain EDB, and more.

Dr. Vijaya Moovala, HR & Digital Leadership Consultant -BIBF, Javier Casedas, Chief Information Officer - AXA Insurance (Gulf) B.S.C. ©, Andrew Sims, Chief Executive Officer - NEC Payments B.S.C., Ian Slater, Senior VP, Enterprise Partnerships - Mastercard, Ahmed Radhi, Assistant General Manager, Corporate Services -SNIC Insurance.In addition,  Manal Mashkoor, Head of Centre for Insurance -BIBF, Amal Sorani, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications – BIBF, Dr. Sawsan Hilal, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics -University of Bahrain.

The event concluded with a panel titled “InsurTech: the way forward” that shed light on the next steps, For both insurers and InsurTech firms, to developing the necessary platform for long-term business sustainability as the insurance industry dynamics change.

Commenting on the event, Khalid Saad, CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay said:  “Bahrain FinTech Bay continues to explore key FinTech themes of which InsurTech is one of them. We wanted to create this platform to shed light and address the latest innovations and disruptions that have been changing the insurance sector globally over the past few years. Bahrain and the regional insurance industry are set to witness such changes over the upcoming few years. I want to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, partners and speakers for adding rich value to this conference. and we will definitely see actionable steps within the space.”

-Ends-

Bahrain FinTech Bay
About Bahrain FinTech Bay (“BFB”) Bahrain FinTech Bay (“BFB”) is the leading FinTech Hub in Middle East, located conveniently in the Arcapita Building, Bahrain. Bahrain FinTech Bay provides a physical hub to incubate insightful, scalable and impactful FinTech initiatives through innovation labs, acceleration programmes, curated activities, educational opportunities and collaborative platforms. Bahrain FinTech Bay partners with governmental bodies, financial institutions, corporates, consultancy firms, universities, associations, media agencies, venture capital and FinTech startups to bring the full spectrum of financial market participants and stakeholders together.

For more information on Bahrain FinTech Bay visit: http://www.bahrainfintechbay.com 

About FinTech Consortium (“FTC”)
The FinTech Consortium is a fintech Incubator and Ecosystem Builder that aims to further the development, interaction and acceleration of fintech ecosystems. We foster synergies among market players, including government bodies, financial institutions, corporates, investors and innovators, who believe that technology can bring added value to the financial industry. Through our FinTech incubation platform, we offer corporate incubation, research lab and venture acceleration as well as provide access to analytical tools and FinTech related resources. We believe that FinTech is a crucial infrastructure layer to strengthen financial services.

For more information on FinTech Consortium visit: http://www.fintech-consortium.com 

Media contact
Fatema Ebrahim
Andra PR & Corporate Communications
Fatema@andrapr.com
+97339740002

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