IGI seeks growth in renewable energy markets

Measured growth plans are on the agenda for International General Insurance (IGI) as it targets growth in the energy sector despite very challenging wider market conditions, Waleed Jabsheh, president of IGI, told PCI Today.

“Everyone’s looking to grow—the biggest problem we are facing is the market conditions at the moment,” he said. “We need to be careful in the way we do things and how we approach growth, because timing is so important.”

He said the company is looking to build on the substantial presence it has in the energy markets by expanding into renewable energy.

“We’re targeting renewable energy as a new class of business,” said Jabsheh. “We’re building a team and we expect that to be in place by the end of this year or the beginning of next.

“We’re a big energy player—it’s our biggest class of business—and this is a sub-set of energy. Many would in fact argue that the future of energy business is renewable energy, and we believe that to be in the energy business you therefore need to be in renewable energy as well.

“The price of oil these days is at levels we never thought it would get to, and the prospects of its ever getting back to the levels we saw two or three years ago I think are slim to none. If the price of oil stays at these levels or even slightly increases then there will continue to be a very big focus on renewable energy, clean energy, especially with global warming and the initiatives the global community are taking to address it.”

Jabsheh said the company also has other growth initiatives in the pipeline. It has had a big push into Africa through its team in Casablanca, which has started generating solid business in its first year. “We expect big things from Africa and we’re carrying out a huge marketing effort there,” he said.

Its next focus is going to be Asia, he said. It plans to expand its Malaysian office while continuing to push other operations it has in the region. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, he said IGI’s Dubai team has grown too, thanks to its looking to access the business in a different way and from a different angle. As a result, he expects a decent amount of growth from the Middle East as well.

Jabsheh added that IGI will also soon have a new underwriter dealing with D&O insurance from its London office, marking a new class of business as a part of its casualty portfolio, an area that has historically performed well for the company. In addition, IGI is looking at legal expenses as another area of prospective new business.