Zurich Global Employee Benefits Solutions (ZGEBS) and GIG Gulf in July 2022 announced a new partnership designed to offer comprehensive pan-Middle East Life and Medical solutions.
With the general level of inflation nearing double digits, businesses and individuals are feeling the financial pinch. Medical inflation is, in fact, more severe than general inflation as the cost of medical products and services tends to increase at a higher rate than general inflation. According to Aon’s 2022 Global Medical Trend Rates Report, it is conceivable that the cost of medical insurance could escalate on a compound basis between 10%-15%+ per year for the near future.
Managing medical costs is a fundamental priority; for multinational organisations operating globally, 70% to 80% of their non-pension-based employee benefits spend will be dedicated to medical products. Moreover, medium to large multinationals spend more than USD 100m a year on medical benefits, globally. So, understanding and mitigating these risks has become imperative to businesses.
Global insurers such as Zurich can help multinational companies understand and provide the necessary expertise and levers to manage these risks through Global Employee Benefits networks. ZGEBS supports multinational customers with a global network of Life and Medical insurers covering more than 150 territories and one hundred countries, respectively.
Geographically, the Middle East is a key region for multinationals due to the size of the workforce populations, unique composition of the employee populations [for example where expats can make up 80% of the population], and the compulsory nature of medical insurance in some territories.
To support its customers in the Middle East, ZGEBS has launched a cornerstone regional partnership with Gulf Insurance Group (GIG), which comprises both existing GIG businesses and the former AXA Gulf employee benefits business which GIG acquired in 2021. GIG is now the only insurer in the Middle East with this ample geographic coverage.
GIG Gulf and Zurich’s partnership is not a new one with existing arrangements spanning Life, and P/C aspects. The expanded regional partnership covers seven Middle East territories at commencement of the arrangement; allowing Zurich to deliver holistic solutions to its customers across these territories for Medical to complement the existing regional Life coverage which has been provided by Zurich International Life (ZIL). According to wtw’s 2022 Global Benefits matrix, ZGEBS also becomes the first global benefits network to reach the milestone of being able support customers with local medical insurance solutions in more than 100 territories worldwide.
Rob Brown, Head of Network Partner Management, ZGEBS, “being able to help our customers understand and manage their Life and Medical insurance risks anywhere […] is a strategic priority for ZGEBS and this ground-breaking partnership with […] GIG is a major step in this goal.”
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