U.A.E: Dubai's Islamic insurance firm seeks to increase market share
By Xinhua News Agency published 1 year ago
Original Article Source: istockanalyst.com
Filed Under: News Articles
Takaful Emarat, a Dubai-based Islamic insurer, has launched three new products to increase its market share, the company said.
"With our new set of products, we hope to generate gross written premiums of 65 million dirhams (17.7 million U.S. dollars),” Ghassan Marrouche, general Manager of the firm, said at a press conference.
Founded in May 2008 jointly by Dubai-based Al-Buhaira National Insurance Co. and Austria's insurance group Uniqa, Takaful Emarat had a difficult start at first.
"Shortly after we launched Takaful Emarat, the global financial crisis reached the Middle East with full forces," said Peter Egger, the company's deputy general manager.
"This has made some planning during the first years redundant. However, we are confident to reach break-even in 2011," he added.
Islamic insurance firms, also called Takaful operators, are not allowed to invest in interest bearing financial products as Islam judges taking interest as a sin, nor are they allowed to buy shares from firms producing alcohol, tobacco, weapons or entertainment facilities.
The three new products are called "Education Plan", "Whole Life Plan" and "Wealth Plan", according to Marrouche.
"Takaful Emarat's three new life saving plans cover education, general savings and wealth management," he said.
At a later stage, Takaful Emarat, whose shares are listed at the Dubai Financial Market, aims to expand within the Gulf Arab region and to Europe.
"We see huge opportunities in Europe, especially in countries with huge Muslim populations such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria," Egger said.
According to global consultancy firm Ernst and Young, Takaful contributions in 2009 amounted to 640 million dollars in the United Arab Emirates, the second largest amount in the Gulf Arab region behind Saudi Arabia with 3.9 billion dollars.
The Takaful industry grows at more than 25 percent per year globally, and Ernst and Young estimated that the industry will reach 12 billion dollars this year.
(Source: Quotemedia)