Business & Finance Club - Doha : Qatar Insurance Company the country's largest underwriter, is set to launch a new subsidiary specialising in life and medical insurance before the end of this year.

QIC group president and CEO, Khalifa Abdullah Al Subaey said that the new company that will probably be registered with the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) would not cover only the Qatari market.

"The company will operate from Qatar but it will offer services across the region," he said.

"We are conducting a study for setting up the new company which along with the other subsidiaries will be part of the QIC Group."

Al Subaey did not disclose the capital base of the new entity to be formed from QIC life and medical insurance units.

He said: "We have not reached that stage yet, we are still undertaking the studies and everything else. We hope that before the end of this year, it will be announced officially." The group might be seeking strategic partners for the venture, but no firm conclusion on this has been reached so far.

We have the two options. We are discussing with a few international partners, but we have not taken any decision yet."

Al Subaey said the group is very much capable of managing the new company through its own internal resources.

"We are the largest medical insurance company not only in Qatar, but in the region. We are insuring around 70,000 people in Qatar at the moment and in the UAE, we are most probably the largest when it comes to medical insurance."

QIC Group has a strong international presence with operations in Oman, the UAE, Kuwait and Malta.