Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions partners with Gulf Insurance Group in Middle East

Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions (ZGEBS) has formed a regional partnership with Gulf Insurance Group (GIG), to offer comprehensive pan-Middle East life and medical solutions. GIG Gulf and Zurich have existing arrangements spanning life, property and casualty aspects, and the expanded regional partnership covers seven Middle East territories. ZGEBS said the partnership allows it “to deliver holistic solutions to its customers across these territories for medical to complement the existing regional life coverage, which has been provided by the market leader in the region – Zurich International Life”. Rob Brown, head of network partner management, ZGEBS, said: “Being able to help our customers understand and manage their life and medical insurance risks anywhere our customers have employees is a strategic priority for ZGEBS, and this groundbreaking partnership with an highly respected regional powerhouse such as GIG is a major step in this goal.” He added: “GIG is widely acknowledged as being highly differentiated in the Middle East region and considering the talent within the team, delivering customer NPS scores of +61 for privilege customers with unique elements such as a highly sophisticated and proprietary in-house administration service, will help us to help our mutual customers in understanding and managing their costs and maximising employees health and wellbeing.” ZGEBS noted that medical inflation is more severe than general inflation as the cost of medical products and services tends to increase at a higher rate than general inflation. “Subsequently, it is conceivable that the cost of medical insurance could escalate on a compound basis between 10% and 15%+ per year for the foreseeable future (source: Aon 2022 Global Medical Trend Rates Report). These cost surges will put an increasing level of pressure on HR, risk and finance professionals to sustain the provision of employee benefits in markets where they are provided as a discretionary employee benefit,” said ZGEBS. It added that in some markets within the Middle East, such benefits are mandatory and businesses are required to provide medical insurance. “Managing medical costs has become a fundamental priority, with multinational organisations operating globally, 70% to 80% of a non-pension-based employee benefits insurance spend will be dedicated to medical products. Medium to large multinationals spend in excess of $100m a year on medical benefits, globally. So, understanding and mitigating these risks has become imperative to businesses,” said ZGEBS. Mathew Richards, head of UAE employee benefits business development of GIG Gulf, said: “Our strategic partnership with Zurich means that we are complementing the strengths of a global leader in employee benefits with the number one regional insurer in the Middle East. This unique collaboration will benefit our customers by offering them a single insurance partner who can meet the demanding regulatory requirements in each of their locations.” He added: “We are proud of our strong heritage in the Middle East and our history of delivering leading solutions for our international clients. As our presence in the Middle East continues to flourish, we look forward to the role Zurich and GIG can play in supporting our clients and their employees where and when they need us most.”

Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions partners with Gulf Insurance Group in Middle East

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