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CompanyConfirmedUAE
Etihad and Abu Dhabi bundle free medical cover into inbound tickets, underwritten by Daman
From 1 July, every international visitor flying into Abu Dhabi on an Etihad ticket sold abroad gets automatic medical cover of up to AED1m for 15 days, underwritten by Daman, under a tie-up with the Department of Culture and Tourism. It runs to December as a tourism play, but it also hands Daman a large captive book of short-stay visitor lives and pushes embedded, point-of-sale insurance further into the mainstream in the UAE.
GovernanceConfirmedSaudi Arabia
BlueFive Capital's recapitalisation of Gulf General heads to a shareholder vote
Abu Dhabi's BlueFive Capital is set to take about 42% of Saudi-listed Gulf General Cooperative Insurance through a SAR126m subscription, with the insurer first cutting capital to clear accumulated losses before rebuilding it to SAR300m. The plan is now in front of shareholders and still needs regulatory sign-off, but it is the clearest signal yet that sub-scale Saudi carriers will be recapitalised and absorbed rather than left to limp on.
GovernanceConfirmedSaudi Arabia
Gallagher buys control of a Saudi reinsurance broker
Gallagher has taken a majority stake in ACE Re Gallagher Arabia, an Al Khobar based reinsurance broker with a Riyadh office on the way, keeping the existing team and slotting the business into its Middle East platform. With a 2025 rule giving local reinsurers first refusal on 30% of outward cessions, owning a domestic Saudi broker has become strategically useful rather than merely nice to have.
RegulationCorroboratedUAE
UAE insurers' clock ticks towards the September deadline under unified Central Bank oversight
Insurers and intermediaries have until 16 September to align capital, governance, claims-handling and outsourcing arrangements with Federal Law No. 6 of 2025, after which structures built around the old Insurance Law stop carrying over by default. The DMCC has already tightened the screws by requiring its insurance-licensed entities to hold a No Objection Certificate from the Central Bank, a reminder that free-zone status no longer sidesteps federal supervision.
Each item is a short editorial summary with a link to the original source. Items marked Rumour · unverified are unconfirmed and should be treated with caution. Compiled automatically; corrections welcome.