Client sophistication, strong investment and exposure growth are driving MENA opportunities

Head of our Dubai office, Max Robbie, looks into the variety of drivers in play that are presenting new and exciting opportunities for Markel across the MENA region.

Published on January 27, 2026

By Max Robbie

Senior Executive Officer, Dubai

5-minute read

The MENA region is no stranger to many of the factors impacting businesses and their (re)insurers globally: macroeconomic forces, geopolitical tensions and climate-driven natural catastrophe risks.

Continued investment in the region and the growing sophistication of corporate insurance buyers, particularly in GCC countries, is leading to more of the risks associated with these factors being transferred to the insurance markets.

In addition, more sophisticated insureds are making use of alternative risk transfer options, including captive insurers.

Evolving nat cat risks

The Middle East and the GCC countries, in particular, have historically been viewed as relatively well-insulated against nat cat risks.

However, that perception is changing, with the growing frequency and severity of secondary perils such as flash floods, convective storm, heat stress and coastal exposures.

In 2024, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman suffered heavy flooding, claiming many lives and causing an estimated US$3 billion dollars of property damage, with the economic cost reported to be far in excess of insured losses.

More recently, countries in North Africa have suffered catastrophic rainfall, with coastal regions in Morocco experiencing deadly flash floods in December 2025.

This is driving a more nuanced dialogue between cedants and reinsurers, greater use of modelling, and a general re-think of how cat models are set up for the region.

There is a broader acceptance of climate risk as a core underwriting consideration, where a data-driven approach is key to supporting improved risk selection and underwriting functions.

Two-speed primary market, but new buyers coming in

In macroeconomic terms, inflation, supply chain disruptions and energy price volatility have all impacted appetite in the underlying insurance market, resulting in something of a split approach.

While the risk awareness of insurance buyers in the region has increased significantly, there’s still a proportion of cost-sensitive purchasing, particularly in SME and non-critical business sectors, with some companies choosing to reduce limits or accept higher deductibles.

By contrast, larger and more savvy purchasers are becoming increasingly risk aware and are more likely to be seeking higher limits, broader coverage options, and more tailored solutions to protect their balance sheets amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

The Middle East is also seeing a lot of new insurance buyers coming to market, as businesses who may have historically retained more risk have outgrown local insurance markets and are looking to transfer risk to insurers across the region.

Strong pipeline of investment

Sovereign wealth-led investment across the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia continues to be a powerful driver of underlying insurance demand; for infrastructure development, logistics, construction ‘mega-projects’, renewable energy, tourism and, increasingly, data centres and technology hubs. These all provide opportunities for the construction, engineering, energy, marine, cyber and casualty insurance markets.

We're also seeing the growth of financial services and fintech businesses in the GCC region, which, alongside new technology hubs, will drive demand for cyber, D&O and other financial lines products over the longer term.

We expect that tech expansion in the region will present durable exposure growth and is likely to experience strong investment from the reinsurance sector as the underlying insurance market expands.

Regulatory and political factors

Regulatory activity has also been a driver of opportunity for (re)insurers across much of the MENA region. Financial hubs such as the DIFC have been supportive of businesses looking to grow in this market, enabling carriers to establish close relationships with brokers, regulators and cedants in the region.

Heightened scrutiny from regulators in areas such as sanctions, anti-money-laundering and data protection has also increased demand for more traditional professional and financial risks and cyber products.

However, global geopolitical tension and fallout remains the elephant in the room.

While geopolitical risk is a permanent feature of all underwriting, the current conflict environment is impacting the primary space in a few different ways: from regulatory risks such as sanctions regimes, to the political risks around trade disagreements, to operational challenges such as disruption of shipping through key trade routes.

In such an uncertain and volatile environment, it’s critical that (re)insurers continue to support insureds and cedants in the region with strong and consistent appetite for terrorism and political violence risks, while seeking to counteract geopolitical risks through closer scrutiny of war exclusions, sanctions regimes, regulatory compliance and contingent business interruption exposures.

Cyber surge

Purchasing of cyber coverage in the region has also increased, partly driven by increasing investment in the region, partly by better understanding among insureds of what typical cyber policies cover, but also because the cyber market increasingly offers tailored solutions that go beyond pure indemnification of financial loss.

Businesses are also purchasing larger limits, as capacity increases to meet rising demand.

Longstanding carriers in the region can therefore differentiate their cyber offering by providing more innovative products, with coverage for emerging exposures such as cyber security property damage.

The outlook for 2026 and beyond

Looking ahead, the increase in private wealth and accumulation of luxury assets in the region has developed alongside the re-positioning of territories like the UAE as a financial, cultural and tourism hubs.

With the opening of institutions such the Louvre and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum, and new live event and sporting venues, we see a major opportunity ahead for fine art and specie and entertainment business.

We also see data centres as a growing opportunity for the construction, property and cyber markets, while digital assets and the crypto sector are likely to drive further exposure growth.

In the casualty space, there are further opportunities ahead, with growth in life science business and emerging environmental liability exposures across multiple sectors.

We expect that exposure growth will continue to be strong, therefore, driven by economic expansion, infrastructure investment and continued trade flows into the Middle East.

Client appetite for larger limits is likely to remain robust, particularly in specialty lines, where risk awareness is increasing, creating room for disciplined expansion by reinsurers.

Against this backdrop, technical, data-driven underwriting, local claims handling expertise, regional market knowledge, diverse language capabilities and the ability to provide long-term support to clients will be the key differentiating factors for reinsurance providers serving the MENA region.