His Excellency Fahad Almubarak, governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) honored the chairmen and chief executive officers of Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance Company and Alahli Takaful Company for their successful recent merger, which marks the fourth merger in the insurance sector during the last two years. Almubarak stated that this and previous mergers have demonstrated that the initiatives by the Central Bank in support of the insurance sector go on the right track towards promoting the insurance industry and improving its operational and financial performance.

His Excellency affirmed that SAMA shall continue to be proactive in its approach to encourage merger and acquisition activities within the insurance sector, as part of the SAMA's commitment to achieve the objectives and programs of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, and particularly the Financial Sector Development Program, which gave special emphasis to the insurance sector given its significant role in helping businesses mitigating risk and therefore providing protection to the national economy and contributing to economic stability and growth. His Excellency urged insurance companies to pursue merger and acquisitions opportunities to strengthen their competitive position in the market, increase innovative capacity to create new insurance products and services, improve operational efficiency, reduce expenses, and attract and retain qualified and skilled workforce.

It is worth noting that the Financial Sector Development Program included an ambitious initiative to encourage and facilitate mergers and acquisitions in the insurance sector for achieving the set objectives of the Cooperative Insurance Companies Control Law goals, i.e., sustainability, stability, durability and growth, as well as increasing the industry's contribution to the GDP by diversifying its products and digitizing it and enhancing innovation and competition in the sector.