Life insurance is still a relatively unused type of insurance in Dubai. In order to understand how insurances work you will need to note that insurance is a relatively new field in Dubai, so most of the locals still do not know about the various possibilities insurance companies offer when it comes to life insurances as one form of health insurances.
Life insurance though is very important, especially for Islamic style families where only the men work which means a higher risk of being left without money in case anything happens. Of course there are tons of different insurances and thanks to the new law of Dubai from next year all employer need to provide the employees with a basic insurance package. When it comes to life insurance in Dubai this is often enlisted as an additional feature for health insurances. This is just like how the Al Ittihad Al Watani Insurance Group does, which is among the most well known insurance companies in the Middle East. Al Ittihad Al Watani, instead of using the term “life Insurance” has a combined package, which is called Personal Insurance covering accidents, hospitalisation, one type of life assurance and the Unitrust services. The three sorts of life insurances Al Ittihad offers are the following:
*Term Life: the cheapest sort of life insurance that has a definite period after which you can enlarge the period or you can invest the money in a better plan.
*Decreasing Term: In this case, the insured person insures a definite sum that also serves the repayment of a debt; therefore, it is decreasing from time to time.
*Group Credit life insurance: For corporate use, this policy can go for every company and it’s generally used to cover debts in case the owner passes away.
*Unitrust: is a life insurance that can also be used as a simple investment. The fund works like a trust, which means there is a huge group where all people give in their money and the company will invest this money in order to make a better interest for everyone. Unitrust also has maturity payments, which means that in case of any Child’s Future Plans, the child can only get his or her money over 18 -20 years of age.
It’s also important to mention the Islamic way of insurance, which is called Takaful and basically works like a normal insurance company, yet not dealing with interests and any of such fees which count not acceptable by the Islamic law. Takafuls work slightly different from the other insurances.
Salama Islamic Arabic Insurance Company is among the biggest in the Middle Eastern region and deals with all sorts of Takaful insurances. Life insurance within Takaful can be found in the different Family Takaful plans. These offer protective sorts of insurances for the family, include Child’s future plans, Retirement plans and other savings plans all of them in a way can be held as life insurance.
If you are in Dubai and would like to have a good insurance plan, as an expat we advise you to visit an international company, like Allianz or Axa which offer complex life insurance packages for you which you can even transfer to other country if you leave Dubai later on.