The Establishment of ARIA: A Dedicated Reinsurance Association for the ADGM

In July 2025, the Association of Reinsurance (ADGM) Limited — ARIA — was formally incorporated within the Abu Dhabi Global Market, becoming the first body in ADGM dedicated exclusively to the (re)insurance sector. Established under the guidance of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, and registered under ADGM company number 24920, ARIA represents a structural milestone for the reinsurance community in Abu Dhabi and across the wider GCC.

A First Dedicated Reinsurance Association for the ADGM

The Abu Dhabi Global Market has grown rapidly since its establishment in 2015 into one of the world’s leading international financial centres. Its regulatory framework, anchored by the FSRA, operates on common law principles and has attracted a broad and distinguished range of financial institutions across banking, asset management, capital markets, and insurance. Until July 2025, however, no body existed within ADGM to serve as the organised, collective voice of the (re)insurance sector specifically. ARIA was established to fill that gap.

The association is not a general insurance body. Its mandate is deliberate and specialist: reinsurance, retrocession, captives, structured risk transfer, and the Takaful and Retakaful lines that are of particular strategic importance to the GCC and to the Islamic finance community globally.

This focus reflects both the character of the ADGM reinsurance ecosystem and the recognition that the reinsurance sector has distinct professional, regulatory, and advocacy needs that are best served by a dedicated institution.

Why Reinsurance Warrants a Specialist Voice

Reinsurance sits at the foundation of the global insurance system. It is the mechanism by which primary insurers manage their capital, stabilize their underwriting results, and take on risks that would otherwise exceed their individual capacity. A functioning reinsurance market is a prerequisite for a functioning insurance market — and a functioning insurance market is a prerequisite for economic development, infrastructure investment, and trade.

The GCC is at a stage of its development where the reinsurance dimension of this equation is becoming increasingly material. National economic visions across the region are driving investment in large-scale infrastructure, energy transition, and industrial diversification — all of which generate complex, high-value insurable risks.

The quality and depth of the regional reinsurance market will directly shape the region’s ability to manage these risks effectively and to retain more of the value of that risk management locally.

Within ADGM, the FSRA has been actively developing its regulatory framework for insurance and reinsurance, most recently through a comprehensive consultation on updating the ADGM Insurance Regulatory Framework published in December 2025. ARIA was established to be the structured practitioner counterpart to that regulatory development — contributing the perspective of the market to the policy process and helping to build a (re)insurance ecosystem in ADGM that is robust, credible, and globally competitive.

The Founding Members

ARIA’s founding membership brings together five organizations that collectively represent the breadth of the ADGM (re)insurance community —

a reinsurance carrier with deep regional roots, an internationally recognised specialty reinsurer, a global broking firm, and two senior practitioners who have spent careers at the intersection of reinsurance, Islamic finance, and risk management.

Abu Dhabi Reinsurance Company Limited is one of the region’s established reinsurance carriers, providing capacity across a broad range of lines and reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s credentials as a market of substance for (re)insurance transactions. Fidelis Opco Limited, the ADGM-based entity of Fidelis Insurance Group, brings internationally recognised specialty reinsurance expertise and a strong presence in both ADGM and global markets. AON Management Services (Middle East) represents the broking community and brings a global perspective on reinsurance placement, market access, and risk advisory. Afroditi Boura and Oussama A. KAISSI complete the founding membership as individual practitioners, each with senior executive careers spanning (re)insurance, development finance, and Islamic risk transfer.

This founding group was convened not simply to launch an association, but to anchor it in genuine market participation and institutional credibility from its first day.

ARIA’s Mandate

ARIA’s work is organised around four areas of activity.

Advocacy and regulatory engagement is ARIA’s foundational role. The association serves as the authoritative voice of the ADGM (re)insurance sector before the FSRA, the Central Bank of the UAE, and relevant regional and international bodies. This means contributing to regulatory consultations, representing members’ interests in policy development, and working to ensure that the ADGM regulatory framework continues to evolve in a manner that supports a competitive, well-functioning, and internationally aligned (re)insurance market.

Education and professional development reflects ARIA’s commitment to building the human capital that a serious (re)insurance market requires. The association aims to facilitate professional learning, promote best practice and ethical standards, and over time to develop structured programmes that raise the capabilities of practitioners operating within and connected to ADGM.

Market intelligence and research is the means by which ARIA adds tangible value to its members. Understanding the GCC reinsurance market — its size, its structure, its capacity, its regulatory environment — requires ongoing attention and analysis. ARIA intends to produce and share intelligence that helps members navigate this market with greater clarity and confidence.

Thought leadership and positioning is the fourth dimension of ARIA’s activity. The GCC reinsurance market is changing. The regulatory environment is developing. New structures and mechanisms are entering the market. ARIA’s role is to contribute to the thinking that shapes how these changes unfold, and to ensure that the practitioner community has a credible and respected voice in those conversations.

An Open Invitation

ARIA is at the beginning of its journey. The association was established with a clear mandate, a committed founding membership, and the support of ADGM and the FSRA. What it builds from this foundation will depend on the participation and engagement of the broader (re)insurance community.

ARIA extends an open invitation to reinsurers, insurers, brokers, captive managers, risk advisors, and individual practitioners who are active in or connected to the ADGM market to join the association and contribute to shaping what it becomes.

The (re)insurance sector in ADGM has a specialist institution for the first time. Its value will be commensurate with the engagement of those it exists to serve.

To enquire about membership or to learn more about ARIA, the dedicated reinsurance association of ADGM, please visit aria-adgm.org or contact the Secretariat at secretariat@aria-adgm.org.

Contact ARIA