The chief executive of Green Crescent Insurance has resigned after helping to revive the company’s fortunes amid a price war in the insurance sector.
Hazem Al Madi will leave the UAE insurer on February 28, the company said yesterday in a filing to the Abu Dhabi bourse. The current managing director, Nathan Kennedy, will take on the position of chief executive.
The company’s stock was down 2.9 per cent at Dh1.32 after the announcement. Shares have surged 169.3 per cent in the past year.
Sheikh Saeed Al Nahyan, the company’s chairman, said Mr Al Madi had, over the past two years, helped the company “through its recent restructuring during a very challenging period”.
Pressure has been building in the regional insurance market after years of insurers offering low premiums in a bid to capture market share. Growing populations and a rising tide of claims have strained bottom lines.
During Green Crescent’s most testing period, in late 2012, shareholders met to decide whether to dissolve. They voted instead to keep the business going by cutting its capital by more than half to Dh100 million.
Under a restructuring, the company cut its operational expenses and focused on securing more premiums. In the third quarter of last year, it reported a net profit of Dh2.5m, compared with a loss of Dh18.8m in the year earlier period.
Sheikh Saeed said he expected the company’s “growth and development strategy to continue to produce significant revenue and profitability improvements in 2014 and beyond”.
Mr Kennedy became a board member in April 2011 and was heavily involved in the design and implementation of the restructuring.
Mr Al Madi will remain with the company as a technical adviser to the board.
tarnold@thenational.ae