Casablanca-based Saham Finances is a virtually unknown entity in the Levant and Gulf insurance markets today, but the company is nothing if not ambitious. In June 2012 it acquired 81 percent in LIA, the Beirut-based insurance affiliate of Bank Audi Group, as an entry into the Lebanese market and, strategically, as a base for growing into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “Our purpose is to use LIA as a platform to develop our activities in the whole Middle East region,” said Raymond Farhat, the chief executive of Saham Finances. Within the next five years, Saham Finances wants to amplify its premiums base in the GCC and Levant to $1 billion, from less than $100 million at the end of 2012, Farhat told Executive. The Lebanese insurance market has relatively higher maturity than other Arab markets and is definitely saturated: more than 50 providers share in a premiums pie of less
