Solidarity link-up with Chubb Group

The member insurers of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies earn high ratings from Standard and Poor's (AA) and Moody (Aa2) for financial strength.

The alliance, which reflects Solidarity's mission to provide a wide range of Sharia'h compliant products with quality customer service, will focus on writing Directors and Officers Liability, Professional Liability, Fidelity Bond and Financial Institution Bond policies.

In announcing the agreement at the Solidarity Headquarters in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Sameer Al-Wazzan, Solidarity's CEO, highlighted the benefits of the agreement for the Middle East financial services industry.

'There has been phenomenal growth in the financial services sector in the Middle East and particularly in the GCC,' he noted. 'This rapid growth also poses risks that drive the need for enhanced corporate governance. Insurers play a key role in meeting corporate governance standards and in mitigating risks, providing stability to the sector and comfort to consumers at large.'

Al-Wazzan also emphasized that the Solidarity / Federal alliance where Federal will provide reinsurance and technical support to Solidarity, will contribute to building local underwriting skills as well as creating products that address the needs of local markets.

Speaking on behalf of Federal, Michael Casella, Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific Zone, underlined the reasons behind the tie-up between the two financial powerhouses. 'Through this alliance, we are declaring to the region's business community a two-fold commitment. First, we jointly intend to drive the insurance needs in the speciality lines through quality in products and customer service. Secondly, we are committed to work with Solidarity to position it as a leading Speciality Lines Takaful in the region.'

In order to meet future expansion plans, Al-Wazzan also announced that Solidarity shareholders have increased the company's authorized capital from US$300 million to US$500 million and paid up capital to US$150 million. The company is in the process of increasing the paid up capital by another US$125 million bringing the total paid up capital to US$275 million, according to Al-Wazzan.