IslamicFinance.de

It seems that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) set an agreement with a German agency, GIZ, to conduct a study of micro and Takaful (Islamic) insurance products in Nigeria. The statement came from Mr. Fola Daniel, NAICOM Commissioner for Insurance.
He added that the gesture is part of NAICOM’s drive to open up and expand insurance market at the grassroots and that this was also a way to increase the sector’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) now provides a cancer cover Takaful to all its “Dana Women’s Banking” customers. This can happen through an underwriting process without the need for medical examinations. The scheme can be renewed upon the breach of a policy year.

A two-day Oman Islamic Economic Forum will take place on December 17 at Al Bustan Palace Hotel. Amjad Group of Companies will organize the forum. The forum ha sthe purpose to underline the steps needed by the Sultanate to expand its capabilities in the Islamic finance, Takaful finance and the factors in relation to the social responsibility in the Islamic finance sector.
It would gather experts from the Islamic finance sector, academicians, businessmen, decision makers from inside and outside Oman for discussing significant problems in Islamic finance and other relevant issues in the Islamic broad economic system.

The next big thing in the GCC's Islamic insurance industry appears to be the bancaTakaful model.
After last week Qatar Islamic Bank distributed Damaan Islamic Insurance Company's Takaful products, retail Islamic bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank (BISB) communicated that it had signed an agreement to distribute Bahrain-based Takaful International's products to its customers.

Randall & Quilter has accepted to buy Principle Insurance for £4.275m cash. Principle Insurance was launched and was given Financial Services Authority approval in 2008 with the purpose of meeting the motor and home insurance needs of the country's Muslim population as the only Shariah-compliant insurance provider in Britain at the time.
It has been in run-off since October 2009. Randall & Quilter has a portfolio of nine insurance companies in run-off, from the UK, US and Europe, with net assets £72.2m beginning with 30 June 2011.

Ahmad Hizzad Baharuddin is the new director general of the Labuan Financial Services Authority at Bank Negara Malaysia. He has been appointed to the role for a three year term, effective from October 3, 2011.

Mr Fola Daniel, Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has asked insurance brokers to investigated opportunities in micro and takaful insurances to broaden the insurance market.
He added that part of the commission’s efforts at growing the insurance market is the introduction of the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) in 2009, but was dissappointed that the brokers have not brought sufficient energy into the initiative.

The Budget of 2012 will promote furthermore the comprehensive development of conventional and Islamic banking, insurance and takaful, investment banking and other financial services in terms of the range and offerings of products and services.
Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar stated that it showed the Government’s effort to strike a balance between dealing with people, cyclical and structural issues.

Standard & Poor’s talkes about how Sharia-compliance affects the analysis of the creditworthiness of insurance companies that follow Islamic religious principles. Sharia-compliant takaful and cooperative providers have lately started to battle aggressively with traditional insurers and reinsurers.
The rapid growth and multiplication of these new entrants has been influential, but has more than once brought into question the stability of their business model.

An agreement between Damaan Islamic Insurance Company (Beema) and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) was signed, to provide its customers a suite of innovative Takaful solutions.
This means that QIB will be offering its customers Beema’s Takaful products, which cover all customer needs be it motor insurance, retirement plans, children education plans or simple savings-cum-investment plans or protection plans. Futhermore, it will give Beema’s ‘Individual Takaful Plan’.

Ratings agency A.M. Best stated that reTakaful companies are having problems keeping to their original business plans. It seems taht the Takaful market has not grown as quickly as expected and Takaful operators have found themselves having to battle with the large conventional insurers on price.
The Takaful firms were using conventional reinsurers, otherwise like specialist reTakaful firms, in order to keep their costs low, as the conventional reinsurers offered the cheapest protection.

Allianz Takaful and MedGulf are partnering for the markets of Bahrain and Qatar to further develop their insurance platforms. In order to start this, Allianz Takaful will transfer 75 percent of Allianz Takaful to MedGulf BSC (Bahrain).
The whole range of takaful and insurance products in the market of Bahrain and Life and Health products in Qatar will still be sold by Allianz Takaful.

Amana Takaful will launch 800,000 shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Maldives Stock Exchange (MSE).
It appears that 20 % of the shares will be made available to expatriates and 15 percent to overseas applicants. The rest of 65 % will be offered to Maldivians.
The IPO was announced at the Nasandhura Palace Hotel. Hareez Sulaiman, CEO of Amana Takaful Maldives, stated that the IPO is going to "change the way the Maldivian Stock Exchange operates as this will be the first time that Maldivians, expatriates and foreigners will be able to purchase securities in a Maldivian listed company.”

Through the acquisition of the local Islamic insurance company, Takafol SA, by Absa, it is once more underlined that the mainstream banks in South Africa are taking Islamic finance as a serious niche market business.
The Takaful premium market in South Africa is at this point estimated at about 3 billion South African rands (about $420 million), which is very modest compared to the conventional insurance market.
Banks such as Absa and Standard Bank posess clear strategies of growth and expansion beyond South Africa to sub-Saharan Africa, and Islamic banking and insurance are an attractive component of this offering especially in countries with large and affluent Muslim populations.

The 2nd Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online at:
http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/icm/11_2Q_msianicm.pdf

It appears that Sri Lanka's Amana Takaful wants to raise 16 million rufiyaa in an initial public offer by selling 800,000 shares.
The opening will be on September 20 and the shares are going to be sold at 20 rufiyaa each.

It seems that Qatari insurance and Takaful market is experiencing a slowdown with local firms, mainly operating in the non-life sector.
Reports show that one of the main reason is the rise in premiums yielded to reinsurance companies.

Takafol will become part of Absa Islamic Banking and perform under the name Absa Takafol.
Amman Muhammad, Managing Director of Absa Islamic Banking, stated that Absa Takafol will look at the way they expand their service offering beyond banking and provide customers with an unparalleled Islamic value proposition.
It seems that the possible market for Takaful products in South Africa has been estimated at ZAR 3 billion ($412 million).

Al Madina Insurance Company is the first one to be granted a Takaful license by Oman.
The new firm will give Life, Medial and non-Life Takaful in the Sultanate.
Mohammed al-Barwani, the firm's chairman, presented his desire to become a publically-listed company.
Al Madina stated that it will be arranging its own in-house Shari'ah board to govern its operations and will chase a hybrid version of a Wakala contract for its insurance products and a Mudarabah model for its investment functions.

BIMB Holdings has listed RM62.84m ($21m) in net profit on revenue of RM502.26m ($168m) in general because of its aspirations in the Islamic finance realm and Takaful market in particular through its subsidiary Takaful Malaysia.
Johan Abdullah, BIMB's group CEO, stated that growth in the group's net income was accomplished by higher profit from the continued growth in financing, higher non-fund based income and improved asset quality in Bank Islam, as well as higher profit generated from Takaful businesses