Managing Director – Regional Business — Insurance Distribution Network

The mandate

An institutionally backed insurance distribution network operates several Gulf country businesses whose commercial models, carrier relationships and service choices evolved separately. Cross-border opportunities are increasing, but no executive owns the full regional trade-off. Countries optimise local volume, central teams negotiate selected partners and shared investment is allocated through influence rather than comparable economics. The owners want one commercial and operating leader before further expansion.

The Managing Director – Regional Business will steward approximately AED 3,350 million in assets and lead around 550 employees and material partners. Scope includes country P&Ls, distribution strategy, carrier and partner relationships, customer service, operating priorities, talent and governance. The role reports to the Group Chief Executive and board and has exposure to the chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors.

The appointee must distinguish regional scale from forced uniformity. Carrier leverage, technology and specialist operations may benefit from consolidation, while regulation, customer behaviour and channel economics remain local. Each country needs a transparent contribution after shared cost, incentives, cancellations and service demand.

Expansion should be selective. A new market must clear gates for regulatory access, carrier proposition, distribution productivity, service capacity and capital. The MD should be willing to partner, sequence or decline rather than translate a regional ambition into simultaneous launches.

Carrier concentration creates both bargaining leverage and vulnerability. The regional leader will examine where a small number of insurers provide attractive economics but narrow customer choice or create service dependency. They must decide which relationships deserve regional negotiation, where local carriers add differentiation and how continuity is protected if a strategic carrier changes appetite.

Country plans should also state the management attention and shared-service capacity they consume, preventing nominally small launches from becoming permanent regional distractions.

Distribution quality should be visible beyond policy sales. Renewal, cancellation, complaint, claims support and adviser conduct determine whether growth creates durable value. The MD will establish cohort views by country, carrier and channel, then alter incentive or service arrangements before weak outcomes become embedded. Cross-border referrals need explicit ownership so customer responsibility does not disappear between entities.

Why this seat is open

This urgent replacement follows an accelerated transition. Interim accountability cannot own the cross-border thesis, so the board seeks a permanent appointment within six to eight weeks. The process remains confidential until candidate and transition arrangements are agreed.

What you will own

• Establish comparable country and channel economics across the network.
• Decide which capabilities should be regional, local or partner delivered.
• Steward AED 3,350 million of assets, risk acceptance and board forecasts.
• Own carrier strategy, distribution productivity and customer-service outcomes.
• Apply explicit entry, scale and exit gates to cross-border opportunities.
• Lead 550 employees and partners with consistent country leadership standards.
• Resolve capital allocation and stop initiatives lacking regional advantage.
• Build succession and mobility across country and shared-function roles.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, reconcile country contributions and meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to regional ownership, including regulators, carriers, distributors, customers represented through research and capital sponsors. Test cross-border proposals against service and control capacity, assess leaders and stabilise pressing delivery risk. Agree a board scorecard with market investment gates.

Months four to nine should settle the regional operating model, appoint accountable country leaders and consolidate only where evidence supports it. Renegotiate priority carrier or partner arrangements and deliver the first measurable cash, capacity or customer value. Expansion pilots should have bounded evidence questions and pre-agreed stop decisions.

By year end, portfolio profitability, leadership consistency and selective expansion should form a repeatable trend. The first-year value case must be within 10% of plan and forecasts should reconcile market, cash, customer and people assumptions for three quarters. Priority risks must close by approved dates with sustainable evidence; severe escalations cannot age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Fully loaded contribution by country, carrier, channel and customer segment.
• Distribution productivity and policy retention after incentives and service cost.
• Capital efficiency and evidence quality of cross-border entry decisions.
• Consistency and succession of country leadership.
• Retention of at least nine in ten critical people and immediate cover for seven in ten direct-report positions.
• Quantified improvement in regional ownership, supported by a clean baseline and data owner.

The person

You are a Regional MD, Area President or multi-country General Manager with 28 or more years in financial services or a comparable distribution enterprise. You have led a country, division or operating entity with direct commercial, people and governance consequences.

Your accountable P&L, budget, book or portfolio has been at least AED 1,950 million, and you have led no fewer than 550 people. You can evidence a regional operating-model decision and a selective market expansion whose outcomes persisted for two reporting periods.

You know when local difference creates value and when it protects weak performance. You can manage carrier, regulatory and capital-sponsor interests without allowing consensus to replace accountable choice.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is AED 2.8–4.0 million plus annual incentive and LTI. The permanent appointment is onsite in Dubai, supports international relocation and allows notice up to six months. Final mix reflects confirmed scope.

Confidentiality

The organisation remains unnamed until a confidential conversation establishes mutual relevance. Rounded and blended operating facts remove identifying signals.