London firm launches Islamic insurance platform

London-based firm Cobalt has developed a sharia-compliant insurance platform that uses a syndication model to help spread risk across a panel of underwriters. Cobalt allows multiple insurers to pool their capacity and each can subscribe to the desired level of risk though individual Islamic Windows. The company aims to address capacity constraints in the takaful industry. The platform allows each insurer to have a takaful window, where policyholder funds are segregated from conventional funds, without affecting their rating levels and helping price the risk competitively. The risk is priced by a lead insurer and other firms must then subscribe under similar terms, a similar approach to the subscription model used in London's insurance market.This novel format could boost capacity in the sector.