Pakistan insurers agree with regulator to allow takaful windows

A legal dispute between Pakistani insurance firms and regulators has been resolved after the country's five takaful firms had challenged the new takaful rules introduced in 2012. Under the agreement, insurers will have to allocate 50 million rupees ($506,100) in capital to their window operations, from no capitalisation requirement in the original rules. The takaful rules will be applicable after a three-month period and the regulator would also amend them to allow takaful firms to co-insure risks alongside conventional players, which the initial rules had forbidden. Takaful's share of the total insurance market is estimated at less than 3 percent. The regulator has now received five applications for takaful windows and expects as many as half of all conventional insurers to eventually apply for a licence.