TAKAFUL - Takaful Malaysia May Consider Intellectual Capital From Foreign Partners

CYBERJAYA, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- Kumpulan Takaful Malaysia may consider getting "intellectual capital" from foreign partners, its managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Kamil said Tuesday.

"Competition is getting more intense, unless the foreign partner can provide some intellectual capital because we don't need money," he told reporters here.

Mohamed Hassan said Takaful Malaysia was adequately capitalised but it could use some intellectual capital such as technical support, especially in the finance area as such resources were limited in Malaysia.

"This is the thing that we are exploring. At the moment, we are quite happy being a 100 per cent local entity," he said.

On having local partners, Mohamed Hassan said the group has no such plan at the moment.

"We are now under Tabung Haji group of companies, so we have adequate capital.

If there is any expansion to be done, maybe Indonesia is an attractive place to grow because they have a billion people," he said.

On partnering with an Indonesian bank, Mohamed Hassan said: "Currently, Bank Muamalat is a shareholder of our company Takaful Indonesia. So we hope to strengthen ties to promote the concept of bancassurance there."

He said the Indonesian operation contributed about five per cent to the total revenue but has potential in terms of growth.

"Regulations in Indonesia are also changing. We are now not allowed to have window operations there and must have a standalone capitalised takaful company," Mohamed Hassan said.

"We see the direction is moving similarly to what the Malaysian government has been promoting in Islamic finance. There is good potential," he said.

Mohamed Hassan said the group had invested about RM21 million and increased its shareholding significantly about a year ago.

"I think our bank partner is interested to invest more, having the largest stake because our strategy is to focus on bancassurance," he said.

Asked about the outlook, Mohamed Hassan said: "It is going to be very good. We are getting our year-end soon and will announce our September quarter results by the end of this month."

"You will see our progress through the years, our increasing profit and increasing turnover," he said.

-- BERNAMA

Source : http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsfeatures.php?id=541890 - Nov 9, 2010