Friday, November 12, 2010

TAKAFUL - Takaful Malaysia eyes Indonesia expansion


STIFFER competition in the local takaful industry, brought on by the issuance of new takaful family licences to four new players, is driving Takaful Malaysia to look beyond the country for more growth opportunities.

Indonesia particularly is looking attractive, said Takaful Malaysia group managing director Datuk Mohamed Hassan Md Kamil.
"The regulations in Indonesia, I think, will be changing as the government is moving towards promoting Islamic finance, similar to what our government is doing," Mohamed Hassan said.

Takaful Malaysia owns a 56 per cent stake in P.T. Syarikat Takaful Indonesia. Bank Muamalat Indonesia is also a shareholder.


Takaful Malaysia's Indonesian venture contributes only about 5 per cent to group revenue.

"It's quite small. But moving forward, in terms of rate of growth, I think our company in Indonesia has a better potential.

"We hope to strengthen the ties between the two entities (Takaful Indonesia and Bank Muamalat Indonesia). We have increased our percentage of shareholding quite significantly in Takaful Indonesia a year ago. I think our bank partner may be interested to also invest more. Moving forward, our strategy is to focus on the bank assurance business."

Mohamed Hassan was speaking to reporters after launching the "Promosi Kilauan Permata" campaign, which will offer RM30,000 worth of fine diamonds and white gold from Habib Jewels through a "rezeki draw" to its customers.

The four new players in the takaful industry are made up of collaborations between several local banking groups with foreign insurance partners.

AMMB Holdings Bhd teamed up with the UK's Friends Provident Group plc. Public Bank Bhd and its Public Islamic Bank Bhd formed a tripartite pact with ING Management Holdings (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, while The Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd tied up with Koperasi Angkatan Tentera Malaysia Bhd.

The 70:30 joint venture between American International Assurance Bhd and Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd was also given the new takaful family licence.

Source : http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/takaka/Article/ - Nov 10, 2010

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