IslamicFinance.de

Property/casualty insurer Chubb's Saudi Arabian division, Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Company, has entered into preliminary discussions with AlAhli Takaful Company to explore the possibility of merging the two companies.

AXA Insurance has teamed up with Cobalt Underwriting to create a new Shariah-compliant insurance product for the real estate sector. As part of the partnership, AXA directly manages the trading and underwriting of the product. Cobalt employs in-house Shariah scholars who provide each client with Shariah compliance certification. The new product is part of AXA’s wider strategy to bring new products to under-served sections of the insurance market. Ryan Birbeck, head of real estate specialty at AXA Insurance, said that the addition of a Shariah-compliant insurance policy was an obvious move as overseas investment continues to flow into the UK real estate sector.

The Chairman of the Islamic Insurance Association of London (IIAL) has told delegates at its inaugural conference that cooperation will be vital if growth in the Islamic insurance sector is to be achieved.
Max Taylor said the London market was ready willing and able to work with local markets to drive the expertise and growth in Islamic commercial insurance products to meet the growing demand from the business community.
“We have long believed that to enhance the market and deliver change in the Islamic insurance sector there is a real need for greater expertise and knowledge and this is where the London market can play a leading role,” Taylor said.
“The UK government has been quite clear that it wants to create a global centre of excellence for Islamic financial services in London.”
However, while both the London market and the Islamic underwriting community had the same aims of driving growth and professionalism in the sector it could not be achieved in isolation.