Lebanon’s insurers soldier on but struggle to hold onto their market without government assistance. Ignored by the government and plagued by a lack of transparency and an oversaturated market, the country’s insurance industry is struggling to develop in step with the Lebanese economy. “We’ve been waiting for changes in the law for many years,” said Farid Chedid, managing director of Chedid Re. Though most executives say the industry is healthy and growing, no reliable performance figures exist for 2008 or 2009. Therefore, the overall effect of the financial crisis on the industry remains unknown. Abraham Matossian, president of the Association des Compagnies d’Assurance au Liban (ACAL, Lebanon’s insurance association), said the crisis had very little impact. “The crisis did not affect us directly,” he said. “We may see an indirect impact from the crisis due to the fact that the mega players — those with whom we have operation deals
