News

Mr. Oussama A. Kaissi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), visited LCI on January 14, 2016.

Several discussions were held with regards to further development and cooperation between ICIEC and LCI in the region, both strategically and technically. Furthermore, the upcoming Aman Union Annual meeting, which will be held in Beirut during November 2016, was discussed and planned.

About ICIEC

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) is a member of the Islamic Development (IDB) Group. ICIEC was established on August 1, 1004 as an international institution.

The idea for the establishment of an entity to provide investment and export credit insurance for Islamic Countries originated from the Agreement for the Promotion, Protection and Guarantee of Investment among Member Countries of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

This Agreement provided that the OIC, through the Islamic Development Bank, establishes an Islamic Insurance Company operating under Shariah principles, to provide insurance products for investments and export credits. The driving ambition behind the Agreement as a whole, and the creation of ICIEC, was to strengthen the economic relations between member countries of the OIC on the basis of Islamic Shariah.

Factors Chain International (FCI) and the International Factors Group (IFG) have signed an Agreement to create a single organization to represent the interests of the receivables finance and factoring industry with over 400 members in 90 countries dedicated to open account trade finance. Effective January 1^st, 2016, the combined organization will be under the legal auspices of FCI, a non-profit association under Dutch law headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands with a branch office in Brussels, Belgium. This means that all of IFG members will be transitioned to become active members in FCI. It is expected that the organization will adopt a new name and mission statement, to be considered during the FCI annual meeting in Cape Town, South Africa 23-28 October 2016.

The organization will be run by a single Secretariat, managed by Mr. Peter Mulroy, Secretary General and Mr. Erik Timmermans, Deputy Secretary General.

This decision will bring multiple benefits to its members as well as expand the influence and reach of the organization. Members will have increased country coverage in over 90 markets to generate increased cross border business as well as a larger trade network with over 400 members.

LCI has been an Associate Member of IFG since December 2014.

In December 2015, Triglav Osiguranje A.D.O. and LCI Services finalized a cooperation agreement intended to jointly develop credit insurance activities within Serbia.

LCI Services will bring technical know-how and expertise in underwriting the risks in the region, as well as Re-insurance support through top tier Reinsurers; while Triglav will issue credit insurance policies within Serbia. Triglav,on the other hand will be able to provide their corporate customers with credit insurance services.

LCI Services will help Triglav set up its own adapted Microsoft Dynamics CRM dedicated to manage their policies as well as follow through the credit insurance cycle from Client Application, Risk Assessment, Policy Management to Debt collection and Recovery.

Both companies are very keen on increasing the penetration and awareness of Trade Credit Insurance in Serbia and helping companies benefit from the stability and expansion potential credit insurance provides.

LCI attended the 6th Annual Aman Union Meeting which took place in Muscat, Oman between the 7th and 9th of December 2015. The meeting was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Muscat. This year’s meeting was hosted by the ECGA of Oman.

The Meeting addressed topics of common interests amongst the members and served as a great opportunity to share member knowledge and expertise in the industry. It also marked significant milestone in the development of Aman Union with the establishment of a dedicated Secretariat. In addition to the Union members, experts from various industries such as credit and political risk insurance, reinsurance, banking and credit information, were in attendance.

The Berne Union and its affiliate the Prague Club, held their Annual General Meeting in Shanghai, China last week. The meeting was hosted the Berne Union’s Chinese Export Credit Agency SINOSURE and lasted a full week (November 2-7, 2015).

Over 220 international Senior Executives and Managers, representing 66 export credit and investment insurance companies from 57 countries worldwide gathered in the Chinese capital for their annual five-day working meetings.

LCI Services will help Triglav set up its own adapted Microsoft Dynamics CRM dedicated to manage their policies as well as follow through the credit insurance cycle from Client Application, Risk Assessment, Policy Management to Debt collection and Recovery.

Both companies are very keen on increasing the penetration and awareness of Trade Credit Insurance in Serbia and helping companies benefit from the stability and expansion potential credit insurance provides.

The Berne Union Prague Club held an SME Specialist Meeting from on October 1-2, 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic. LCI was present, represented by its General Manager, Karim Nasrallah. Topics were diverse, covering issues such as trade credit insurance challenges specific to SMEs as well as current trends.

Nasrallah gave a presentation on LCI’s Information Technology and Online Solutions, showcasing how LCI is committed to providing its clients with streamlined, user-friendly systems while also benefiting from the efficiency and productivity this technology is providing for LCI’s internal processes and procedures.

The second day focused on Short Term and Medium Long term SME challenges and had a more technical focus.

The Berne Union and its affiliate the Prague Club held their respective Spring Meetings in Florence, Italy from May 11 – 15, 2015. They both took part in a Joint All Member Day on Wednesday, May 13th. This annual event was hosted by Italy’s export credit company SACE.

Over 200 international Senior Executives and Managers, representing 66 export credit and investment insurance companies from 57 countries worldwide gathered in the Tuscan Capital for their annual five-day working Meetings.

The Spring Meetings included several sessions throughout the five days, tackling a multitude of topics. The Berne Union and Prague Club are actively working with the aim to increase awareness of private and public export credit and investment insurers, in addition to the growing role played by this industry over the past years. The importance of trade credit insurance firms became particularly evident in the aftermath of global financial crisis.

As shared during the meeting, trends and figures showed that the volumes of new business generated by the Berne Union and Prague Club Members have grown steadily and progressively since 2009, reaching the value of 2 trillion of dollars in 2014 – a great boost to cross-border trade and investments.

In addition to the meetings and workshops, a Gallery Walk was set up, whereby a select number of Berne Union and Prague Club members were asked to exhibit information on their organizations, one of which was LCI.

LCI was represented by Karim Nasrallah (General Manager), Claude Noujeim (Underwriting Manager) and Diana Loutfy (Corporate Communications Deputy Manager).

To download the full Berne Union Prague Club Press Release, click here

The 28th edition of the Atradius Re seminar was held from Tuesday 12th of May to Thursday 14th of May in the Herbert Park Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The seminar is an Atradius Re annual event on Credit and Bond Insurance.

During this year’s three day event, both Atradius Re team members and Atradius Direct professionals shared their expertise and knowledge about topics such as Credit Insurance, Bonding, Risk Underwriting, Claims and Reinsurance Structures.

LCI Services attended this year’s seminar and was represented by Bayan Khalife, Senior Credit Analyst.