IslamicFinance.de

Malaysian takaful players are poised for a dearth in talent and must prepare their human resource (HR) requirements to avert the inevitable situation within the next five years. This is due to the fact that takaful players will have to hire more people following the introduction of the Islamic Financial Act (IFSA) 2013 which requires them to separate their family and general takaful businesses into separate entities. There is already a shortage of valuable industry personnels not just in the takaful industry but also in the conventional insurance industry now and this will be exacerbated when the IFSA comes into force.

Malaysia continues to take the lead in the Asean takaful industry with 71% share of gross takaful contributions, according to a report by Ernst & Young. Malaysia has a largely underinsured population with a low insurance penetration rate and strong government support for the Islamic finance sector. With a proven model and regulatory clarity, the country is set to further build on this leadership position. At present, Malaysia’s takaful sector derives nearly 78% of its net contributions from the family takaful business. However, globally the recent trends suggest an deceleration of the industry. Hence, expansion of the takaful industry is relatively slowing as firms struggle for scale and face growing competition, but the sector is still poised to sustain double-digit growth, said the report in its overall findings.

Expansion of the takaful industry is slowing as firms struggle for scale and face growing competition, according to a report by Ernst & Young. Driven largely by Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, takaful globally is expected to grow by 16 percent annually in coming years compared to an average 22 percent rate between 2007 and 2011. But firms have expanded in narrow product segments such as auto insurance which are saturated by competitors, sparking price competition to gain market share. A shift from general insurance to more profitable life business remains unlikely in the Gulf because of comfortable government-funded safety nets. Geographical expansion is one way out, but this is difficult because of expensive regulatory requirements and the lack of a standard approach to sharia-compliance across the world.

Broking firm, Miller has recruited Razi Sulaiman, a treaty reinsurance and takaful specialist, for its Malaysia operations. Miller anticipates significant future growth in the takaful sector and Razi will help to further develop the company's presence in this arena. Razi Sulaiman has built up knowledge of treaty and facultative reinsurance having specialised in technical support and claims previously. He began his career with Uni Asia Insurance before joining Miller. Working closely with Faris Davidson and the rest of the team in Malaysia he will help to grow Miller’s treaty and facultative book, focussing on Malaysia, Brunei & Indonesia and with particular emphasis on the takaful sector.

Operators seeking the licence to underwrite Takaful Insurance have continued to turn in their applications to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). Since the process is still ongoing, the number of applications is still not known. Interests have been received from underwriters and the general public. NAICOM will through the licensing demystify insurance practice, making it possible for operators to operate at the grassroots. Ibrahim Hassan, deputy commissioner for Insurance (Technical) NAICOM, said the interested companies must maintain a minimum deposit in a non-interest financial institution at all times and that the provision for the establishment of an Advisory Council of Experts (ACE) must be made in the articles of the Company and there should be establishment of investment policy for the participants’ Risk Fund.

Daman Islamic Insurance Company’s net profit crossed QR40m for the first nine months of 2013. The figure reflects a 111 percent increase compared to the same period in 2012. Announcing the financial results, Daman Islamic Insurance Company Chairman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani said the returns from the investments increased by 160 percent on year-on-year basis. Sheikh Jassim attributed the company’s strong performance during the period to the diverse insurance products available in the market. The opening of new branches also supported the growth, he said.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia is targeting double digit-growth in new business this year driven by its family and group segments. Group managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Kamil said the company aims to maintain its lead in the group family takaful business, capturing 40% of the market sector, and 20% of the combined family and general takaful business. He noted that Takaful Malaysia will carry on being cautious in accepting only profitable underwriting contracts while avoiding those prone to greater risks. Hassan also mentioned that developing new product offerings is definitely an area the company is looking into as it strongly believes this would likely be the key driver of sales. Takaful Malaysia's growth areas are still within the fire and engineering segments.

The Insurance Commission (IC) is looking at the feasibility of establishing an Islamic insurance system, particularly the possibility of offering takaful insurance in the country to help Filipino Muslims. Taking notice of the disasters and destructions that happened in the southern part of the country, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc said the IC is looking for ways to help the Muslims in Mindanao. Plans include the setup of an investment advisory council for preneed life and non-life that will look into viable investment activities, and the mandatory earthquake insurance for residential units and small and medium enterprises. However, the IC sees the need for Islamic finance regulations to be able to offer takaful products.

In the executive summary of its report on GCC Islamic Finance, Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” notes that at the end of 2012, assets under management (AUMs) in Islamic finance reached $1.76 trillion. The Islamic finance industry reached about $434 billion in size, in the GCC, for the year ending 2011. The report points out that global Takaful market is estimated to touch about $25 billion by end of 2015. A variety of factors contribute to the remarkable rise in the Islamic finance assets, said Markaz, including growing GDP, rising middle class society, and most importantly increased awareness of the concept of Islamic finance. However, Markaz also notes there are challenges, relating to evolving standards, shortage of expertise in the industry. Furthermore, the capital markets in the GCC region are relatively underdeveloped which hinders the growth of Islamic finance in the region.

Oman’s Al Madina Insurance Co (AMIC) plans to list its shares on the local bourse as part of its transformation into a takaful firm. AMIC plans to issue 66.67 million shares with a face value of 0.1 rial per share, equating to 40 percent of its total post-IPO capital. The offer will take place this year depending on approval from Oman’s Capital Market Authority (CMA). It was unclear how much money AMIC planned to raise. Oman decided in 2011 to introduce Islamic finance; its draft takaful regulations require local Islamic insurers to be public companies, and AMIC said it expected to become one of the first takaful companies on the market.

FWU Group, a Munich-based financial services company, has issued a $20 million five-year Islamic bond backed by insurance policies. FWU, which offers takaful solutions, used a structure known as wakala. The sukuk is the first tranche of a $100 million programme rated BBB- by Fitch, and arranged by EIIB-Rasmala. Proceeds of FWU's sukuk, which carries a profit rate of 7 percent, will be used to fund a set of re-takaful transactions for its Luxembourg-based unit Atlanticlux, which is the ultimate obligor under the programme. The assets for the transaction are the beneficial rights of insurance policies; ownership is transferred to a Guernsey-based company which is in turn managed by AON PLC, which acts as the agent.

The Gulf insurance industry is growing as government spending increases but the sector is suffering from overcapacity in certain markets, which threatens to drive the smaller insurance companies into financial turmoil. Generally, the low level of penetration levels in the Gulf region has granted ample room for the insurance sector to flourish, according to an insurance report by Dubai-based Alpen Capital. The rising wealth of a young population, an increase in expatriate numbers and a growing awareness of insurance products are all helping to boost the industry. Regulators can play a role by developing guidelines to further ensure both the financial strength of insurance firms and the protection of customers.

Takaful is set to push up its annual growth from existing around 25 percent to stiffen competition with the conventional industry, as public trust is pouring into the Islamic insurance rapidly. There is, however, need to create mass awareness about the industry and its authenticity to increase the general public confidence, according to Head of Marketing Pak-Qatar Takaful Group, Syed Adnan Hasan. He said Takaful is expanding its client base as corporate sector, which is attaining its bigger share. However, there are some challenges the Shariah compliant insurance is facing to increase public response and dispel religious misunderstanding of insurance industry. Religious understanding about the Takaful among the public could help pave way for the industry's penetration. Takaful and conventional insurance practically achieves the same purpose but by starkly different means and that is the fundamental difference between the two. People still associate the feelings they have for insurance with Takaful and that is rather unfortunate.

Inflated valuations and a reluctance to relinquish control are preventing smaller insurers in the GCC from consolidating, and in a move to avoid reporting losses, they could distort market pricing for all, according to the RatingsDirect analysis from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. The reports adds that a small number of well-established insurers are reaping the benefits of the fast-growing insurance markets in the GCC region. The GCC insurance sector grew to nearly $16 billion in terms of gross premium written and we observed growth rates of over 10 per cent in the region's largest insurance markets in 2012. Ample capital is available within the industry to back the growth in insurance premiums. Both regional and international investors are looking for a slice of the business because of the growth potential. This creates a highly competitive marketplace in which all companies are contending for profitable business. The ensuing competition puts pressure on margins.

The GCC insurance industry is slated to grow to approximately $28bn by the end of 2015 and tip $40bn by 2017. Opportunities for both local and international insurers are huge, according to Markaz (Kuwait Financial Centre) in their latest GCC Insurance report, which looks at the trends in Insurance Premium volumes across the GCC. This includes the takaful (Islamic Insurance), life, non-life, health, and reinsurance domains and compares the macro insurance factors such as insurance density, insurance penetration, and so on, of the GCC states with that of world. The drivers for the insurance industry in the GCC include the rising income levels, high amount of expatriate population, the increasing awareness among the population about the benefits of insurance, the government's policies mandating insurance in some sectors. The region also has a favorable demographic trend with youth population projected to grow and the middle class set to rise in the next few years.

The Inland Revenue and Stamp Duty Legislation (Alternative Bond Schemes) (Amendment) Ordinance is a new piece of legislation, introduced in Hong Kong. This law, which puts the taxation of sukuk on a level footing with conventional bonds in Hong Kong, marks a significant effort by the Hong Kong Government to promote the development of a sukuk market in the territory. However, success in developing a market for Islamic finance is not just about regulation and tax. Most importantly, it is about ethics, in the form of Shariah compliance. Islamic finance continues to be dominated by banking. Insurance (takaful) has received much less attention and its development reflects a degree of neglect. The problem lies in the widespread use of takaful and retakaful contracts which are nothing more than conventional insurance and reinsurance contracts. A strong ethical framework needs to be created and enforced within which Islamic finance can thrive.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered the counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Dubai-based Salama/Islamic Arab Insurance Co. (Salama/IAIC) to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-’ . The outlook is negative. The counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Salama/IAIC’s wholly-owned, Malaysia-based reinsurance subsidiaries, BEST RE and BEST RE Family have also been lowered to ‘BBB’ from ‘A-’ . The consolidated Salama/IAIC group displays a satisfactory business risk profile, and a strong financial risk profile. S&P has revised its view of the BEST RE subgroup’s group status to its parent to strategically important from core because the subgroup’s activities, size, and earnings potential have reduced. Despite the group and subgroup’s current difficulties, the rating agency continues to regard the consolidated Salama group’s capital adequacy as extremely strong. The outlook can be revised to stable if the situation at BEST RE stabilizes without causing material financial or reputational issues for Salama/IAIC.

Cooperative Insurance Company is the first firm established in the form of a public joint stock cooperative in line with the general policies of Article 44 of Iran's Constitution, which seeks large-scale privatization, and promotion of cooperative sector. A majority of the shares of Cooperative Insurance Company belong to companies and associations affiliated to the cooperatives sector. Cooperative Insurance Company is to conduct insurance activities in the fields of life insurance and other types of insurance services under the supervision of the Central Insurance of Iran. The managing director of the company, Akbar Najafi, explained that the major goal of Cooperative Insurance Company is to address insurance needs and render services in the cooperatives sector. Since the cooperatives have been established with public assets, they need more financial and legal support compared to other sectors in order to materialize their goals.

Takaful Ikhlas will focus on group insurance schemes in efforts to educate more Malay clients on the importance of Islamic insurance policy and protection coverage. President and Chief Executive Officer Ab Latiff Abu Bakar said the Islamic insurance penetration rate by the Malays in the country was only 12 per cent. Of the 88 per cent of the Malay market for Islamic insurance protection which have not been penetrated, the company is aiming to secure up to 10 per cent next year, driven by would-be-launched new group schemes and existing group insurance policies, he said. Takaful Ikhlas is targeting RM10 million returns in the next five years from its group insurance schemes. Ab Latiff said Takaful Ikhlas was also confident of netting RM2 million worth of sales this year from RM1.5 million last year, aided by the appointment of more agents, up to 50, and improved marketing strategies.

Qatar Islamic Insurance Company has reported a 3% rise in first-half net profit to QR35.84mn despite expenses growing faster than income mainly due to a 13% rise in general and administrative costs. Income from investments in associates almost quadrupled to QR3.97mn, rental income grew 16% to QR4.53mn, wakala fee by 8% to QR23.98mn and other income by 28% to QR1.06mn. However, income from shareholders’ investments shrank 30% to QR6.73mn and shareholders’ share in policyholders’ investment income by 5% to QR7.74mn. Nevertheless, total income grew 5% to QR48mn. Total assets were valued at QR662.22mn comprising policyholders’ assets of QR365.41mn and shareholders’ assets of QR296.81mn. Total shareholders’ equity stood at QR263.39mn on a capital base of QR150mn and earnings-per-share was QR2.39 at the end of June 30, 2013.