The Fidelis Partnership (TFP) is stepping up its drive into the Middle East, dispatching senior leaders to the region last week as its local arm gathers pace and a trading tie-up with Saudi Re deepens.
The delegation was headed by deputy chairman Charles Mathias and crisis management head Billy Ayres.
They were joined on the ground by Youssef Al Kareh, chief executive and chief underwriting officer of Fidelis MEASA, and Matt Warren, executive chairman of the unit, both based out of the firm's Abu Dhabi Global Market team.
Face time with clients matters more than ever, TFP said, with market uncertainty and volatility making in-person dialogue a non-negotiable for building durable partnerships.
The visit lands at a telling moment. Fidelis MEASA pulled in $88 million in gross written premiums in its debut year, writing for both regional and international markets, Middle East Insurance Review reported.
Stood up in 2024 and licensed at Abu Dhabi Global Market, Fidelis MEASA sits at the heart of TFP's BRICS+ strategy, an ambitious push to extend specialty re/insurance reach across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
Al Kareh has said the first year ran ahead of plan, flagging opportunities stretching from New Zealand to Brazil and pointing to a clear shift in economic momentum away from G7 economies.
The Saudi Re relationship, built over the past 18 months, is among the most concrete fruits of that strategy. TFP also maintains ties with brokers, insurers and reinsurers across the region, and used the visit to map out where those partnerships go next.
"The Middle East is a core part of our High Growth Markets strategy, and we believe strongly in being present, listening and supporting our partners and clients directly," Mathias said, adding that the goal was to stand alongside clients and deliver tailored solutions.
The market backdrop helps explain the urgency. Research from IMARC Group puts the Middle East reinsurance market at $25.7 billion in 2024, with a path to $34 billion by 2033.
Middle Eastern reinsurers logged the strongest net result growth of any global region between 2023 and 2024, jumping 75%, while their share capital swelled 20% over the same stretch.
Structural forces are driving the demand. RGA Middle East managing director Ashraf Al Azzouni has described the region as in the midst of a transformative phase, propelled by population growth, urbanization, infrastructure spending and regulatory reform. Geopolitical instability, he cautioned, remains the chief brake.
For TFP, the UAE and Saudi Arabia stay firmly at the center of the plan. More senior visits are slated in the coming weeks as the group keeps the dialogue going with regional partners, Saudi Re among them.
