CMA launches property insurance training

MUSCAT: The Capital Market Authority (CMA) kicked off Tamkeen 2023 with the Property Insurance Training Programme aimed at familiarising participants with the technical aspects of different property insurance branches.

The programme targets employees of underwriting and claims departments in the property insurance branches. It comes within the series of the annual programmes of the Tamkeen initiative that seeks to empower national cadres in the field of insurance and enable them to be employed in senior and middle administrative, technical and operational job positions across the insurance industry.

The training programme covers commercial and personal property insurance and sheds light on its legal principles, the different forms of insurance policies, underwriting skills, and dealing with claims.

Ula al Suwaid, Director of Insurance Institutions Regulation, clarified that property insurance has become one of the main types of insurance in the Omani Market because of the successive climate conditions that the Sultanate of Oman has faced during the past two decades. This has enhanced the community awareness on the importance of taking the necessary precautions against climatic hazards encountered by the various commercial and individual properties, as well as government properties of various institutions in the Sultanate of Oman.

Property insurance policies provide insurance coverage against potential risks, such as fire, theft, and damage caused by weather events such as storms and overflowing wadis. Policies also provide the option of insurance on a specific property, such as insurance against fire only, insurance against drowning (flooding) only, theft only, or others; in order to reduce the cost of the policy.

The value for the unaudited underwritten premiums of property insurance reached RO 87 million accounting for about 16 per cent of the total underwritten premiums of the year 2022; which is 45 per cent more than the underwritten premiums of the year 2018.