Source: The Edge Daily, 23rd June 2008
Munich Re Group, the first foreign company to operate a re-takaful business in Malaysia, finds that many takaful operators are not duly concerned about syariah compliance when it comes to re-insuring their risks.
In an interview with The Edge Financial Daily recently, its chief executive (Greater China and Southeast Asia) Ulrich Trumpp said the company would continue to help increase awareness of the availability of syariah-compliant re-takaful.
“There has to be a change management process and we cannot expect behaviour to change overnight,” he said, adding that Munich Re’s value proposition was to give takaful operators an option of offering fully syariah-compliant products.
“Otherwise, we also have the conventional re-insurance,” Trumpp said.
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Source: The Edge Daily, 17th June 2008
BIMB Holdings Berhad plans to take Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (Takaful Malaysia) private as part of its strategy to restructure its asset management and Islamic insurance businesses.
Sources said that only after the privatisation would private investors from the Middle East be invited to take a strategic stake in the insurer.
“The restructuring exercise will be undertaken at the subsidiary level first and may move on to the group level where the private investor will come in with new money,” a source said.
It is learnt that Takaful Malaysia would be privatised at between two and 2.5 times adjusted book value, which is on the high side of mergers and acquisitions involving insurance companies. “But then if the price is low, it would not attract enough acceptance,” the source said.
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Source: The Edge Daily, 2nd June 2008
In order to gain the edge in any business game, a company has two possible sure-hit strategies to consider. It can either become a first-mover in the industry or emerge as the biggest player among its peers.
UAE-based financial services company Dubai Group is not the first to venture into the Islamic reinsurance business but it aims to be among the biggest.
It recently tied up with Malaysian government investment arm Khazanah Nasional and Asia Capital Reinsurance Group Pte Ltd (ACR) to set up the world’s largest retakaful company, ACR ReTakaful Holdings Ltd, with a capital base of US$300 million (RM975 million).
Under the partnership, Dubai Banking Group and Khazanah will hold 40% stake each in the Islamic reinsurance company, while ACR will take the remaining stake.
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