I am pleased to meet you in this symposium, which is considered a links between SAMA and the insurance sector and its workers. I thank the organizers of this symposium including General Committee of Insurance Companies. I hope that the symposium will achieve its desired goals and result in enlightening ideas and innovative solutions to overcome the challenges facing the insurance sector; in a step closer to achieve the progress and development of the insurance sector that we all aspired to and to preserve the rights of insurance policy holders (and beneficiaries of insurance coverage). The stability and growth of the insurance sector, contributes to the realization of the vision of "the Kingdom of 2030".

This symposium comes at a critical phase of construction and development, and the insurance sector is an important and major contributor in supporting its efforts. I have the confidence and optimism in the ability of the insurance sector and its workers to contribute effectively to the development process despite the challenges it faces, which require concerted efforts to overcome them. The most prominent challenge facing the insurance sector in the Kingdom is its low contribution to the Kingdom's GDP, which constituted only (1.54%) in 2016.

            However, it is pleased and promises that the sector has promising opportunities for growth that can be obtained through working on several axes, including increasing awareness of the importance of insurance and educating all segments of society about its benefits, diversifying activities and services, innovating new products at fair and competitive prices, stimulating protection and savings insurance products, and raising the rate of insured vehicles. Not to forget the importance of working on promoting and enhancing the level of traffic safety and security. and safety of property, and to stimulate small and medium enterprises to insurance of all kinds, and to encourage mergers and acquisitions in the insurance sector to create promising entities capable of survival, competition, innovation and development.

Dear Guests,

Despite the development of the capabilities and technical expertise of insurance companies during the past decade and its positive reflection on the insurance sector, which was translated by the sector's achievement of distinguished financial and operational results during 2016, where the net results of the sector exceeded (2.1) billion riyals compared to (810) million riyals in the year 2015 AD, with a growth rate of about (160%), total written premiums exceeding (36.85) billion riyals.

Moreover, I am pleased to congratulate the workers in the insurance sector for achieving distinguished financial results, I would like to remind them of the importance of raising the level of satisfaction and providing high-quality and fair-priced services to policyholders and beneficiaries of insurance services in order to meet their aspirations. Therefore, SAMA issued a number of circulars and instructions to emphasize the need to raise the level of services provided to insurance policy holders and beneficiaries of insurance coverage, protect their rights, and fairly price the products provided to them. SAMA also informed the insurance companies of the necessity to establish an independent department under the name of "Customer Care Department" in order to make clients a focus of attention and to reinforce the concept of "customer first".

SAMA agreed with the insurance companies to deposit the compensation amounts for claims or the amounts due in the event of canceling the policy directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries via bank transfer 'SARIE'. This includes settlement of insurance claims for third-party vehicles for individuals that do not exceed an amount of (2000) riyals within a period not exceeding (5) working days from the date of receiving the claim.

            In order to ensure the fairness of the compulsory vehicle insurance rates for individuals, now offer a discount to the owners of the free-of-claims register of up to (30%) of the insurance value, in addition to another discount in appreciation of loyalty of up to (10%) for the compulsory insurance documents including the comprehensive insurance for individuals. SAMA also affirmed that insurance companies must take into account a minimum of pricing factors when issuing a compulsory vehicle insurance policy, with the aim of differentiating the degree of risk between one driver and another, and thus increasing the accuracy and fairness of pricing. SAMA has also paid attention to providing compulsory insurance products for the transport sector, such as trucks and rental vehicles, as it emphasized the need not to monopolize the provision of these products to a limited number of companies. Insurance companies that offer the compulsory vehicle insurance product hope to provide it to all holders of valid driving licenses, regardless of the driver's age.

SAMA has given great attention and has placed the matter of developing its skills and qualifying them at the center of its attention. Although insurance and reinsurance companies achieved a nationalization rate of (58%) in 2016, aspirations exceed what was achieved in 2016 as a whole, especially those jobs at higher administrative levels and specialized technical jobs. As a result, SAMA obligated insurance companies and liberal professions to localize all jobs affiliated to the vehicle claims departments, including branches and claim reception centers, inspectors, debris management, and recovery. Insurance companies and liberal professions are required to localize all jobs related to customer care departments, and jobs related to handling complaints for all branches of insurance. SAMA has set a date 10/8/1438 AH corresponding to 7/2/2017 AD as the maximum date for the localization of these jobs, provided that another phase of the localization phase will be followed by the aim of localizing technical and leadership positions. Citizens for leadership and technical positions.

Within the framework of SAMA's keenness to enhance the stability and growth of the insurance sector, maximize the protection of policyholders, and develop the concept of risk management and to enhance the culture of savings, SAMA launched its insurance strategy under the name of the insurance vision "2022". It established the necessary tools to achieve this by launching a package of initiatives exceeded thirty-eight, including working to increase the percentage of insured vehicles which contributed to the increase in vehicle insurance prices during the past three years, through the development of the compulsory vehicle insurance mechanism in cooperation with the General Traffic Department and relevant government agencies. In addition to the creation of a database of vehicle insurance claims to be shared between insurance companies and Najm Insurance Services Company, with the aim of improving the risk assessment mechanism. The insurance vision "2022" also included initiatives to stimulate demand for protection and savings products and to develop human resources by enhancing insurance skills and knowledge for Saudi workers in the insurance sector. In view of the scarcity of competencies specialized in actuarial sciences, SAMA cooperates and coordinates with the Ministry of Education regarding the scholarship of a number of Saudi students to study actuarial sciences within the "Your scholarship is your job" program. In addition, SAMA cooperated with a number of Saudi universities, headed by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and King Saud University, to provide this specialization to its students within its academic programs. The objectives of the corporation's strategy is in the insurance sector intersect with the Kingdom's vision "2030", as it is hoped that it will create opportunities for the sector to grow and expand, and at the forefront of this is the expansion of the base of beneficiaries of the health insurance system. In addition, the important role of insurance on overcrowded facilities to support the culture and entertainment, the role of protection and savings insurance in families' adoption of the culture of planning, the role of credit protection insurance in enabling citizens to obtain adequate housing, and the role of insurance for government facilities in preserving the state's movable and immovable property. In general, insurance has a role in diversifying the Kingdom's GDP. Therefore, the optimal exploitation of these opportunities requires work to develop the infrastructure, operational and technical for the insurance sector, investing in the human element, technical solutions and improving the services provided to clients.

In conclusion, thanks to organizers and to you as well, wish you luck and success.