IslamicFinance.de

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said that it lowered its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on United Arab Emirates-based Takaful Re Ltd. (TRL) to 'BBB-' from 'BBB'. the ratings agency subsequently withdrew the ratings on TRL at its request. At the time of the withdrawal, the outlook was stable. The downgrade reflects the deterioration of TRL's business risk profile, mostly due to challenges within the Islamic insurance sector that have been exacerbated by the company's lack of scale, S&P said. The stable outlook at the time of withdrawal reflected S&P's view that TRL's risk-based capital would remain at extremely strong levels. This is supported by TRL's excess level of capital relative to its low level of premium income.

Bahrain's Arab Insurance Group is in discussions to take full ownership of Dubai-based Islamic reinsurer Takaful Re, as regulatory moves add pressure on firms to consolidate. ARIG is planning to buy the remaining 46 percent of shares it doesn't already own in Takaful Re, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Major shareholders of Takaful Re include Dubai Investments, Emirates Funds, Emirates Industrial Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, each holding a 10 percent stake. The regulatory measures have already prompted some consolidation steps, like Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Co raising its stake in local peer Takaful International to 40.9 percent.

T'azur Company b.s.c., (T'azur), a regional Takaful (Islamic Insurance) company headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced today the signing of an Islamic re-insurance agreement with Hannover Retakaful, the Bahrain-based Islamic subsidiary of Hannover-Re, one of the world's leading re-insurers with premiums in excess of EUR10bn. T'azur fully Sharia-compliant re-insurance panel is led by Hanover Retakaful and also includes other highly rated Islamic reinsurance companies such as ACR Re, Takaful Re, MNRB and Best Re.