Takaful optimistic of sustaining 12pc growth

By Zurinna Raja Adam

Published: 2011/05/06

KUALA LUMPUR: Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd (Takaful Malaysia) is optimistic of sustaining its average growth of between 12 per cent and 15 per cent this year, despite increased competition due to Bank Negara Malaysia issuing new takaful licences to four financial institutions in September last year.

Group managing director Datuk Hassan Kamil said Takaful Malaysia is a pioneer in the business and its objective has always been clear - to promote Islamic insurance.

"The new licences were given to players that are focused on conventional side. We have always been dedicated to takaful and that is our competitive edge," he said after the group's annual general meeting here yesterday.

Hassan said he is confident that its 15 per cent Mudharabah payment rate for group family takaful product will continue to propel the country's oldest takaful group to make further inroads in the industry.

Malaysia's takaful industry still lags behind its conventional peers in terms of total insurance market penetration and share. It is understood that the penetration rate for takaful industry in Malaysia is around 10 per cent, compared with 40 per cent for conventional insurance.

"We will launch at least two new products this year, namely investment-linked and retirement scheme products. We also aim to increase our agents to 2,000 by end of the year from about 1,000 now," he added.

Takaful Malaysia currently has about one million policy holders and it aims to increase its customer base by another 25 per cent by end of the year.

The group's assets stand at RM4.9 billion at group level against RM4.4 billion as at June 2009.

Hassan said Takaful Malaysia is currently not in talks with any foreign parties for a strategic tie-up but will gauge if potential partners are able to provide value added services to the company.

For the 18 months ended December 31 2010, the company posted RM57.7 million in net profit or a 42.7 per cent jump against RM40.5 million during the same period the year before.


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