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Morocco will launch Takaful next year after introducing Islamic banking services in 2017. In July 2017, the Moroccan Government Council adopted a draft decree paving the way for implementation of the Takaful Law. Insurers wishing to operate in the segment will be required to offer exclusively Islamic products. Some big insurers such as French AXA and US Atlanta have already shown an interest. The Moroccan conventional insurance sector is thriving as shown by the growth of its turnover, which increased in 2017 by 10.9% to $4.1 billion. Insurance penetration increased in Morocco by one percentage point to 3.7% of GDP in 2017, against 2.1% in Tunisia and 1.7% for the MENA region.

Abu Dhabi National Takaful Co. PSC (ADNTC) released its financial results as at end of second quarter on 30 June 2018. The company announced a combined net profit of AED 48.6 million, achieving a growth of 19% compared to AED 41 million for the same period last year. The technical profit reached AED 60 million showing an increase of 9% compared to AED 55.2 and the underwriting profit reached AED 36.4 million showing an increase of 6% compared to AED 34.2 million for the same period last year. According to CEO Osama Abdel Raouf Abdeen, the underwriting profit of AED 36.4 million for the first half of 2018 is an indication of the company's credibility as the leading takaful operator in the region.

Qatar Islamic Insurance Company received central bank approval to change its name to Group Islamic Insurance Company. The company also received approval from the central bank to establish a real estate company owned 100 percent by the group.

The net income of listed companies in the GCC Islamic insurance sector has nearly halved in 2017 to $375m, from $674m in 2016. The decline in 2017 net income was mainly driven by weaker results in the Saudi Arabian insurance sector. S&P Global Ratings believes that medium-term growth prospects in the sector remain satisfactory given relatively low penetration levels. It expects Islamic insurance to remain profitable overall in 2018. The ratings agency also observes strengthening capital levels. The Islamic insurance industry in GCC countries outside Saudi Arabia recorded an increase in net income by about 832% to $82m in 2017 from$9m in 2016. Also, there was an increase of more than 60% in first-quarter 2018 compared with the same period last year. This improvement was mainly driven by better results in the UAE.

Muscat Securities Market (MSM) has announced a list of Shari’ah-compliant companies for the first quarter of 2018. Acording to ONA, these firms business and financial behaviour conformed to the requirements of Islamic Shari’ah according to the rules approved by the Accounting and Auditing organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions.

The Kuwaiti Takaful Society for Prisoners Care assisted in releasing 400 female prisoners after paying their debts. Chairman Dr Musaed Mandani said the Society wanted to help more women, but unfortunately their debt runs in thousands of dinars which is beyond the capacity of the society.

A not-for-profit health assurance scheme, called Uplift Mutuals Biradaree, started in April this year in India. The scheme works on the model of mutual assurance, with certain features maintaining the values of Shariah-compliant finance. The health assurance scheme will work on the existing platform of Uplift Mutuals, a fifteen-year-old community-owned mutual health assurance model developed by Uplift India Association. Uplift Mutuals Biradaree is designed to be affordable and is open to all financially vulnerable families. A single member pays 700 Indian rupees ($10) per annum and a family of four 1,400 rupees per year. The annual contribution has been kept low because part of the capital and operating expenditures are currently met by external funding from the global industry body the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF).

German reinsurer Munich Re has entered into an agreement with Iranian insurer Mellat Insurance and will cover Mellat's entire life insurance portfolio. For smaller insurers operating in emerging economies it is vital to have access to reinsurance capacity, in order to offset the risks they are assuming and maintain solvency strength. Iran’s Saman Insurance became the first insurer in the country to purchase life reinsurance from a foreign player after the removal of international sanctions in 2016, signing a deal with Munich Re in 2017.

AXA Insurance has teamed up with Cobalt Underwriting to create a new Shariah-compliant insurance product for the real estate sector. As part of the partnership, AXA directly manages the trading and underwriting of the product. Cobalt employs in-house Shariah scholars who provide each client with Shariah compliance certification. The new product is part of AXA’s wider strategy to bring new products to under-served sections of the insurance market. Ryan Birbeck, head of real estate specialty at AXA Insurance, said that the addition of a Shariah-compliant insurance policy was an obvious move as overseas investment continues to flow into the UK real estate sector.

Malayan Banking (Maybank) is preparing to spin off and list its Etiqa insurance arm on the local stock exchange. Etiqa operates in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia and is estimated to be worth at least $1 billion. As part of the transaction, Maybank’s investors are expected to receive shares in the insurance company in proportion to their existing holding in the bank. Etiqa provides life and general insurance as well as family and general takaful. In 2017 Eitqa reported a record revenue of 6.2 billion ringgit ($1.6 billion). Profit before tax rose 18.5% to 1 billion ringgit last year. In March, Etiqa said it maintained its top position in Malaysia’s general insurance and general takaful segment with an 11.8% market share. It was ranked fourth in the life and family segment, with an 8.9% market share.

London’s draft standards for transaction of Islamic commercial insurance are seeking Shariah scholars’ approval this year for roll-out next year. The Islamic Insurance Association of London (IIAL), which counts Lloyd’s of London as a founding member, has sought Shariah and legal opinion for the standards framework it has developed. The planned roll-out of IIAL’s takaful standards will more or less coincide with the UK’s departure from the European Union on March 29 next year. According to IIAL secretary-general Jon Guy, lots of managing general agents (MGAs) will target UK retail takaful because they will have the ability to access Shariah-compliant capital. Once the syndicates have gone through the regulatory and administrative setup, they will be very keen at looking at how they can deploy it.

Despite a failed merger with HSBC Amanah Takaful a year ago, Allianz Malaysia is still keen to acquire a takaful business. According to Allianz CEO Zakri Khir, there is bright takaful business growth potential because the penetration rate in Malaysia is just 15%. Allianz Malaysia has recently sealed a partnership with insuretech start-up PolicyStreet to offer potential clients to purchase insurance policies online. Four Allianz digital products will be offered on PolicyStreet’s digital platform namely Enhanced Road Warrior, Smart Home Cover, Allianz Travel Care and Allianz Flight Care. In 2017, Allianz Malaysia's profits fell 7.7% to RM287.96 million from RM312.13 million on the back of 2.6% rise in revenue from RM4.68 billion to RM4.8 billion. Zakri said Allianz Malaysia was impacted by Bank Negara's detariffication of motor and fire insurances from July 1 2017.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) plans to revise its takaful operational framework. Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim said the revised framework would be published for consultation before the middle of the year. He said it would strengthen the governance of takaful operators, including how takaful funds are managed, to further safeguard the interest of takaful participants. On the objective of 25% family takaful penetration by 2020, he said it was ambitious, but achievable. Muhammad noted that the industry was lagging in terms of migration to e-payments. He added that another area that is wide open for innovation was the integration of takaful with elements of waqf, sadaqah and zakat.

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb+” of Qatar Islamic Insurance Company (QIIC). The outlook of these Credit Ratings is stable. QIIC adopts a hybrid takaful model, whereby the shareholders’ fund (SHF) charges the policyholders’ fund (PHF) a Wakala fee based on gross written contributions (GWC) and a Muderaba fee based on investment income. QIIC has a track record of strong operating and technical profitability, highlighted by a five-year average combined ratio of 79% that has remained very stable over recent years. Although the company is concentrated to its domestic market of Qatar, the company maintains a niche market position as an established provider of Shari’a compliant products.

According to insurance rating firm A.M. Best, retakaful is faced with a challenging environment in a highly competitive reinsurance market. The analysts took a close look at the global retakaful market and found that new companies entered the market, but their success has been limited. Mahesh Mistry, senior director of analytics at A.M. Best, says that companies have limited access to quality business, predominantly resulting from the underperformance of the primary takaful sector. Current leading players in the retakaful market are Malaysia’s ACR Retakaful and Malaysian Reinsurance, Emirates Retakaful, Saudi Reinsurance Company, Dubai’s Takaful Re Limited and Tunisia’s BEST Re, as well as Islamic windows of conventional insurers. It is estimated that the entire business volume does not exceed $1bn in gross written premiums, while the global reinsurance market was valued at close to $600bn at the end of last year. The standalone retakaful model may be under threat over the long term, unless it is repositioned to add additional value to the reinsurance market

Qatar Islamic Insurance has reported more than 1% year-on-year rise in gross written contribution (premium) of QR316.6mn in 2017. The company’s earnings-per-share was QR4.13 compared to QR4.23 a year ago. The policyholders’ surplus registered more than 100% growth to QR16.2mn in 2017 compared to QR7.9mn in the previous year. Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Thani al-Thani said the company would distribute, for the eighth consecutive year, 20% surplus to all the eligible policyholders for 2017. The management of Qatar Islamic Insurance achieved these results despite a very challenging environment in 2017 due to negative impact of low oil prices on national economy.

In this interview, two product aggregator start-ups, Jirnexu and Fatberry, are discussing their experiences in collaborating with carriers and regulators. Jirnexu is currently in the BNM Regulatory Sandbox and this way gets great support from the regulator. The regulatory sandbox has a customer-focused vision and uses its technology to help with communication, education and purchasing of Insurance. Fatberry is focused on the General Insurance space. It aims at focusing on the customer’s needs and pain points when building its solutions.

In this interview Momodou Musa Joof, CEO Jaiz Takaful Insurance, shares his experiences managing firms and enterprises offering Islamic insurance. Joof believes that Takaful establishment in Nigeria benefits the economy tremendously by creating employment, settling genuine claims and insuring insurable risks. When there is surplus or profit, Takaful insurance, especially Jaiz Takaful Insurance distributes it back to the participants who have not suffered losses. This way, it forms part of poverty alleviation and has nothing to do with Islamising Nigeria, as some people believe. Jaiz Takaful Insurance operates with two distinctive accounts: Participants’ Account and Management’s Account. 70% of contribution goes to the Participants’ Account while 30% goes to the Management’s Account. Takaful is expected to pay genuine claims faster since claims are paid from the Participants’ Account the surplus of which goes for distribution at the end of business year. Out of the amount which goes for distribution, a prescribed ratio is always paid to the needy (Zakat).

The Takaful industry is expected to see rapid growth thanks to consolidation and regulatory improvement. The December 2017 acquisition of Al Hilal Takaful by Takaful Emarat in the UAE has attracted international attention to the market potential of the sector and to the obvious necessity for consolidation. Takaful Emarat managing director Mohammad al-Hawari said that after the merger a combined digital platform would provide more efficient and cost-effective services. In the UAE there are 34 domestic and 27 foreign conventional and Islamic insurance companies. Like in the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s insurance market remains largely fragmented, with 33 listed Takaful operators competing against each other. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar have already introduced new regulations specific to the Takaful industry, while Kuwait has a new insurance law draft. The future potential of Takaful in the GCC is driven by the reduction of state benefits.