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Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has launched a new National Higher Education Savings Scheme (SSPN-i), the SSPN-i Plus, a scheme which incorporates education savings with affordable and comprehensive takaful coverage. Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said SSPN-i Plus was an initiative under the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), aimed at promoting the habit of saving for higher education among Malaysians. Depositors in this syariah-compliant scheme not only invest for their education but will also receive takaful coverage, coupled with competitive dividend returns and tax relief of up to RM12,000 a year.

Moody's Investors Service has today upgraded to Baa1 from Baa2 the insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) of the Qatar Islamic Insurance Company ("QIIC"). The rating carries a stable outlook. The rating upgrade for QIIC reflects (i) the company's improved and extremely strong capitalisation in relation to insurance risk; and (ii) its sustained strong profitability both in terms of underwriting profit and of bottom line. Nonetheless, Moody's added that QIIC maintains a significant level of investment risk, as QIIC invests predominantly in Qatari equity and property markets, translating to a high risk assets ratio. Furthermore, QIIC's insurance risk remains relatively concentrated to Qatar. The outlook is stable reflecting the expectation that the improvements in QIIC's capitalization will be maintained.

Versant assuranciel de la finance islamique, le Takaful est à l’origine une technique d’assurance compatible avec les principes de la Charia. Prônant une approche religieuse, ces opérateurs proposent des solutions assurantielles à des besoins de gestion de risques et répondent aux mêmes exigences de solvabilité que toutes les compagnies d’assurance. La France est le pays d’Europe qui compte le plus grand nombre de musulmans sur son territoire. La demande en assurance de ces populations ne cesse de croître. Il y a désormais urgence à créer une offre résolument mutualiste dont l’ensemble des investissements à l’actif seraient participatifs et socialement responsables.

Morocco's government adopted a bill on Thursday to regulate Islamic insurance, legislation that will face a final vote by parliament later this year. It is the last step in Morocco's legislative package to regulate the country's fledgling Islamic finance industry. Earlier this year, it issued a decree allowing the creation of a sharia board to oversee the sector. The bill adopted by the government goes into details on authorisations, takaful and retakaful products and operating process. Sharia-compliant insurance will be overseen by the same sharia board of Islamic scholars in charge of Islamic banking. The bill also includes some amendments of the law regulating the conventional insurance sector.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd expects contributions in 2015 to grow faster than the industry average of 11 per cent, said Group Managing Director Datuk Seri Mohamed Hassan Kamil. He said the business trend and success rate in securing new customers look positive compared to the previous year especially in the Employee Benefit business, which has seen a shift from conventional to Takaful insurance. The group expects about 20 per cent growth in contributions for employee benefit from RM300 million registered last year, and aims to secure up to 600,000 policy holders, up from 400,000 recorded in 2014, said Mohamed Hasan. For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014, the group's profit after tax grew three per cent to RM138.7 million from RM134.4 million in the previous year, while revenue decreased by 3.5 per cent to RM1.65 billion.

While the Takaful industry across the GCC is experiencing strong progress, development of a supervisory framework varies substantially between the constituent countries. The UAE, Bahrain and Oman — and the autonomous financial hubs of DIFC and QFC — have introduced regulations specifically for the Takaful market. Kuwait and Qatar (outside the QFC), do not have an explicit rule book for governing the market. Saudi Arabia has a common legislation applicable to both conventional and Takaful companies. The Kingdom prescribes the cooperative model for all insurance companies, which has a few variations from the Takaful model followed in other parts of the world.

Al Hilal Takaful, the takaful insurance subsidiary of Al Hilal Bank, has signed a distribution agreement in Abu Dhabi with Euler Hermes, a trade credit insurance provider. The agreement was forged recently at Al Bahr Towers, Al Hilal Bank’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, during a special ceremony attended by Euler Hermes’ Regional Board. The partnership will enable Al Hilal Bank’s Abu Dhabi customers to take advantage of a broad range of trade credit insurance solutions for the management of business-to-business trade receivables offered by Euler Hermes. Al Hilal Bank will leverage Euler Hermes’ offerings to help its corporate clients address local and global economic challenges and manage their trade receivables and worldwide expansion.

Kenya's regulator has introduced new takaful rules which will allow the entry of conventional players into the sector. The rules will come into effect in June with firms required to adhere to the requirements by December, according to a document from Kenya's Insurance Regulatory Authority. This would see Kenya join the countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia in allowing takaful windows. Kenya's first full-fledged takaful firm was launched in 2011, Takaful Insurance of Africa. Islamic lender First Community Bank also operates a takaful scheme while Kenya Reinsurance Corp has developed a sharia-compliant reinsurance product of its own.

Kenya's regulator has introduced new takaful rules which will allow the entry of conventional players into the sector. The rules will come into effect in June with firms required to adhere to the requirements by December, according to a document from Kenya's Insurance Regulatory Authority. This would see Kenya allowing takaful windows, which enable firms to offer sharia-compliant and conventional products side by side. The rules require separate financial reporting requirements for takaful windows from their parent firm, and their operating model must be approved by a board of religious scholars. Operators must also maintain separate takaful funds for their general and life businesses.

A number of Saudi insurance firms have been loss-making for years because of severe competition in the market, where large companies with capital of some SR1 billion ($267 million) dominate small firms capitalized at around SR200-SR400 million, which find it hard to compete. That's why Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) would welcome mergers among local insurance companies as long as they were positive for all parties, said Governor Fahad Al-Mubarak. He said SAMA was working hard with the managements of insurance firms to study their internal situations and develop restructuring plans so they could return to profitability.

The opportunity presented by Islamic insurance products could help offset the London market's declining share of premium in developing markets according to Max Taylor, chairman of the Islamic Insurance Association of London. Taylor spoke at the IIAL's launch on 30 April at an event at Mansion House attended by Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow.

Takaful Insurance Company has on Monday opened its doors in Somalia’s northeastern state of Puntland for the first time in over two decades, ushering in what analysts believe boost for the country’s fledgling insurance industry. Takaful Somalia head Omar Haji Hussein revealed that they would provide indemnity against a lot of losses facing business community. In support of purity and certainty, prominent cleric Sheikh Mohamud Haji Yusuf praised the opening of Takaful in Puntland. Opened in Mogadishu in December 2014 at first, Takaful insures cars, buildings and other essential properties for risks.

Lloyd's is in talks with market regulators in Malaysia to set up an office dedicated to takaful. The planned office will also enable Lloyd's to target Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which together with Malaysia are the largest global markets for Islamic insurance, the marketplace's director of global markets, Vincent Vandendael, said. Lloyd's opened an office in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) earlier this year. Lloyd's has historically provided cross-border reinsurance in Malaysia as a foreign reinsurer, but also has a 'tier 2' licence allowing its syndicates to set up service companies in the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (IBFC).

Equinix, the global interconnection and data center company, addressed the challenges and opportunities facing the Takaful industry in the region by taking part in the recently held World Takaful Conference, the world's largest gathering of Islamic insurance leaders, held in Dubai. James Maudslay, Global Head of Insurance, Equinix spoke about trends in the Takaful market with a key address on 'Sustainable market growth - Looking at opportunities for innovating the Takaful market offering'. Maudslay explained how technology can transform and grow the Takaful market by assisting with data recording, process control, reporting, regulatory inconsistencies, maximising data collection and storage.

En Europe, le Takaful a rencontré une forte demande et a su trouver son marché là où il s’est allié aux assureurs mutualistes. A ce jour, sur le marché Français l’offre Takaful est en construction en assurance Vie. Si les compétences opérationnelles et les capacités d’encadrement existent et sont facilement mobilisables, la demande est aujourd’hui en attente. Des pans entiers de la cible se disent prêts à souscrire à une offre de qualité. Les associations communautaires, les particuliers, les entreprises, les déçus ou les réfractaires de la finance traditionnelle peuvent trouver dans la mise en place de ces offres une solution à leurs besoins.

Lloyd's of London has set its sights on Islamic insurance to strengthen its push into emerging markets and is in talks with regulators to set up shop in Malaysia. The plans are part of the venerable London insurance market's strategy to expand in fast-growing regions where insurance penetration remains low. It has already opened an office in Dubai's financial free zone and is a founding member of the Islamic Insurance Association of London (IIAL) being launched this month. The body is designed to support participants that want to develop Islamic products while ensuring common principles are used. Lloyd's currently has nine managing agents in its Dubai office, with plans for as many as 12 firms by the end of the year.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has expanded the scope of its investigations to two more insurance companies and detained three persons in a case that involves a huge embezzlement on account of oil products' insurance. FIA has taken into custody three persons and has also identified two more persons. The insurance companies had entered in a deal with one of the biggest oil refineries in 2002 to insure oil consignments imported in Pakistan. In this deal, insurance companies had earned a commission Rs 152.39 million at a total premium of Rs 950.23 million and these companies in order to conceal this earned amount withdrew the same through various cheques of 170 fake agents.

The significant premium growth in the global takaful sector is expected to continue and reach $20 billion by 2017, with the majority of that increase coming from Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, according to A M Best. A M Best said in its report that despite the rapid growth of takaful on a global basis, it has struggled to take hold in Middle East markets, other than Saudi Arabia, which are considered to be concentrated with a few large players dominating their respective markets. Moreover, a number of challenges remain, including market conditions that leave takaful operators subject to fierce pricing competition from more established insurers that benefit from brand awareness and more established distribution networks.

Several Islamic insurers in the United Arab Emirates are seeking guidance from the UAE Insurance Authority on the possibility of mergers and acquisitions in the sector, Ibrahim Al Zaabi, director-general of the authority, has said. Talks are at an early stage, he said on the sidelines of an Islamic insurance event, without naming any of the companies. The comments signal that tough new regulations, combined with financial losses and stiff competition are pushing some of the providers in one of the Gulf’s largest takaful markets to consider consolidation. Zaabi also said a committee to oversee Islamic insurance would be established in the UAE by the end of this year to help standardise the sector.

The significant premium growth in the global takaful sector is expected to continue and reach USD 20 billion by 2017, with the majority of that increase originating from Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, according to a new A.M. Best special report. The Best’s Special Report, titled “Takaful Operators Struggle with Growth and Profitability,” also notes that despite the rapid growth of takaful on a global basis, it has struggled to take hold in Middle East markets, other than Saudi Arabia, which are considered to be concentrated with a few large players dominating their respective markets. To access a copy of this special report, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=235591.