The return of Syrian private-sector banking
Islamic banking set for solid growth
From the early 1960s until mid-2006, the publicly owned Syrian Insurance Company (SIC) was the sole provider of policies – which until last year did not include health or travel cover. Things began to change in 2004, when, as part of a gradual liberalization of the financial services sector, the government created a watchdog tasked with reorganizing the sector to allow private competition.
The Syrian Insurance Supervisory Commission (SISC), as the new regulator is called, has since issued more than a dozen licences to privately owned insurers. "The Syrian market is promising, rich, and ready for growth," said the...
