To celebrate the countdown to Christmas, the Corporate Insurance team will be publishing a prediction for 2015 each day.

As Beazley announces the opening of its Dubai office, momentum is picking up for more Lloyd's syndicates to expand their operations to the Middle East.

Given the impressive growth of the UAE insurance market, and the fact that Dubai has become a link between the east and west, setting up in the DIFC is the logical next step for both Lloyd's and the individual businesses that sit within it.

With its stated ambition to expand into emerging insurance markets, as embodied in Lloyd's Vision 2025, and successful precedent of an entity in Singapore, the signs are clear that the GCC is front and centre of the market's ambitions.

The DIFC currently has 72 insurance sector entities and a stated aim of increasing this to around 100 by the end of 2015. The regulator, the DFSA, is currently reviewing its rulebook with a view to clarifying the role of Lloyd's and the regulation of managing general agents. We anticipate that this will streamline the licensing process.

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