The UAE government announced yesterday it has merged the Insurance Authority (IA) with the Gulf state's central bank.
The sudden merger, which took many in the insurance sector by surprise, was confirmed via Twitter by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum.
Al-Maktoum said: "The new economic organisation in the country aims at raising the efficiency of the insurance sector and raising the efficiency and competitiveness of our local financial markets and giving them greater flexibility in their business, and our goal in all of this is to enhance the competitiveness of our national economy."
Our government will remain flexible, supportive and fast in making appropriate economic decisions."
"Our government will remain flexible, supportive and fast in making appropriate economic decisions."
The move aims to make the regulator and the industry more efficient, the ruler and prime minister added.
He said he wanted the change to result in increased efficiency across the insurance sector and raise the efficiency and competitiveness of the UAE's local financial markets while giving them "greater flexibility."
Subscribe to International Investment's free, twice-daily, newsletter
