KARACHI,
August 31: One of the world
leading insurance companies,
ACE Insurance Limited, has
ranked Pakistan as an emerging
market to join the league
with Russia, Poland, Saudi
Arabia and Egypt.
Mr. Serge Ousof,
Chief Executive, Emerging Markets
ACE Group, disclosed this at
a press briefing, here today.
Mr Ousof, who is visiting Pakistan
from Paris, France, said that
ACE Insurance puts great emphasis
on emerging markets. ACE wants
to cater to new markets, which
have a growth potential providing
quality service to the company’s
clients, he observed.
“Pakistan’s
economy has shown remarkable
recovery,” he said, “in the
last 4-5 years and the country’s
economic development & advancement
is backed by strong macroeconomic
indicators, the local insurance
industry has started picking
up”. The share of insurance
in the GDP of the country has
grown to over 0.5 % in the year
2004-05.
He mentioned
that ACE has presence in over
50 countries and carries out
business in over 140 countries.
In Pakistan ACE is present as
a public limited company, a
wholly owned subsidiary of ACE-INA
International Holdings Limited
Delaware, USA.
ACE Pakistan,
he said, is committed to the
ACE values recently given out
by Mr. Evan Greenberg, CEO of
ACE Limited which are: Integrity,
Client Focus Respect, Excellence
& Teamwork.
Reiterating
ACE Insurance’s commitment to
Pakistan’s growing insurance
industry he announced the appointment
of Ms. Zehra Naqvi as the Chief
Executive Officer of ACE Pakistan.
She’s the only woman to head
a multinational insurance company
in Pakistan. She will take over
charge from Mr. Syed Umer Ali
Shah, the outgoing CEO, who
has been transferred as the
Chief Executive & Managing
Director of ACE Arabia Insurance,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On appointment
of Ms. Naqvi, who has an MBA
degree from IBA Karachi and
is an ACII from UK, as the new
head of ACE Insurance in Pakistan,
Mr. Shah said that she brings
in with her rich experience
of the insurance industry and
was confident that Ms. Naqvi
would play an important role
in the insurance industry of
Pakistan’s fast emerging market.
Ms. Naqvi was
of the view that the industry,
at present, is not adequately
projected and is therefore not
attracting enough young talent.
She mentioned that the Regulator’s
office is cognizant of this
issue and has expressed its
resolve to work with the industry
in Human Resource Development
by way of cooperation with the
Insurance Association of Pakistan
and the Pakistan Insurance Institute.
She commended
the Government for exempting
insurance companies from capital
gains tax in the current budget.
“Such incentives are indicative
of the fact that the government
wants a vibrant insurance sector
in line with the growing financial
needs in the country.”
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