Russian Broker Malakut Gets Dubai Licence

Russia-based Malakut Insurance Brokers said it has been granted a license to do business in Dubai.

The company said that Dubai's Department of Economic Development had given it permission to broker insurance and reinsurance business in the United Arab Emirates. It claims to be the first licensed Russian insurance broker in the UAE.

Malakut will operate from its new office in Dubai, led by Rinat Mustafin.

Andrey Dolgopolov, chairman of Malakut's board, said in a statement that the company views the new office as an opportunity for growth in the Middle East and that the new license would assist the development of the company.

Malakut, which launched as a business in Moscow in 2000, claims to be the largest insurance broker in the Commonwealth of Independent States--the former Soviet Union. The company said its annual premium turnover in 2008 was more than US$149 million (104.1 million euros).

(By Marc Jones, London news editor: [email protected])