International Holding Company (IHC) has officially launched Reinsurance Intelligence Quotient (RIQ), a new AI-native reinsurance platform based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, in partnership with BlackRock and Lunate.
The launch follows an announcement last month confirming the formation of the venture, which aims to establish a global reinsurance entity built on artificial intelligence and advanced data infrastructure. The company is currently in the final stages of securing regulatory approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM.
RIQ has secured over $1 billion in initial equity commitments and is targeting more than $10 billion in liabilities. It plans to underwrite property and casualty, life, and specialist insurance lines, with a near-term focus on high-growth markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
The platform is led by Mark Wilson, former CEO of Aviva, and chaired by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. The board includes Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi (ADQ), Syed Basar Shueb (IHC), Sofia Abdellatif Lasky (formerly Goldman Sachs), and Wilson himself. Their combined backgrounds span finance, sovereign wealth, and insurance operations.
RIQ’s model incorporates proprietary AI tools to support underwriting decisions, optimise risk pools, and reduce operating costs. According to people close to the matter, the firm will use cloud-based compute clusters to process client and market data for precision pricing and risk assessment while also offering analytics-as-a-service in select segments.
BlackRock, which has been expanding its presence in the GCC, is supporting the initiative through strategic advisory and long-term capital, according to sources familiar with the firm’s involvement. Lunate, the recently launched Abu Dhabi-based alternative investment firm with over $50 billion in assets under management (AUM), is also backing RIQ as part of its strategy to invest in next-generation financial infrastructure.
The launch comes as global reinsurance capacity faces pressures from increased climate risk, geopolitical instability, and changing regulatory demands. Fitch Ratings, in its June 2025 outlook, noted that the reinsurance sector is undergoing a shift towards capital-light and tech-enabled models, with firms increasingly utilising data science to improve loss ratios.
RIQ plans to offer its first products by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approval, with teams already in place to engage brokers across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Hiring is underway for actuarial, product development, and engineering roles, with offices expected to be established in Abu Dhabi, London, and Singapore by early 2026.
