HAYAH Insurance Company has marked its first anniversary as an independent player in the UAE with "bold ambitions to further enhance and digitise its workplace savings offering".

Previously known as AXA Green Crescent, it is the UAE's newest digital insurance company, specialising in life, medical and savings. 

HAYAH Insurance Company P.J.S.C. is registered with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.

As the provider of the only workplace savings product approved by the Central Bank of the UAE for distribution locally, HAYAH said in a statement today (8 March) that it plans to extend its domestic reach by adding greater flexibility and a more user-friendly, digital-first approach to its solution.

The firm's enhanced Employee Secure Saver will ensure that companies can further customise the pension plan they offer their employees. Employers can also fully digitise the solution to give staff 24/7 access to how they manage their funds. 

For employees, they benefit from the first pension plan in the UAE specifically tailored to their needs that also has a fully capital protected investment option, backed by France's AXA.

This newly developed solution is designed to encourage long-term and disciplined savings in the workplace in the UAE. 

It also enables HAYAH, which already supports over 350 companies and 150,000 employees across the GCC with life insurance, to help companies and their employees in the UAE be ready for the expected changes to local pension rules.

"We are committed to this market. We offer ringfenced gratuity savings for companies to offset their end-of-service liabilities, easy AI-powered administration, Arabic outputs and local support," said Mohamed Seghir, Chief Executive Officer of HAYAH, which is regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The firm also has offices and employees located in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Among key features of HAYAH's Employee Secure Saver solution are its ability to enable companies to:
•    Decide their contributions and vesting schedules
•    Have the flexibility to mix and match charges according to their requirements
•    Protect employees' capital and gains by saving in a secure currency, namely US dollars
•    Onboard their employees within 48 hours 

From an investment perspective, the Employee Secure Saver is product agnostic. HAYAH achieves this by partnering with AllFunds to only offer funds from established asset managers, while ensuring there is transparency as well as zero commission or incentives.

For the rest of 2023 and beyond, HAYAH is also looking to develop its reputation as a digital innovator. "We are now working on the HAYAH app, which we will launch this year to offer new and innovative life and savings solutions," added Seghir. "We will also continue to upgrade our secure online platforms and a suite of added wellness benefits."

Further, as HAYAH looks to widen and deepen its footprint in the UAE, it will soon reveal the results of a YouGov survey which it said would uncover the preparedness of C-level executives for offering effective workplace pension plans.