International Takaful leaders meeting in Colombo

Spurred by the growth of the Islamic finance industry globally, the Takaful industry (Islamic Insurance) has seen tremendous growth in the last few years.

The Takaful industry as estimated by Ernst and Young in their 2011 Global report on Takaful highlight that the Takaful market saw contributions amounting to USD 6.9 billion, recording a growth of 31% in 2009.

They estimate that this growth has been sustained in the 2010 and estimate Takaful contributions to surpass USD 11.9 billion in 2011.

The potential of Takaful is evident from the growth of Takaful stemming from Islamic nations in the GCC, Far East and Africa’s as well as Europe and with the entry of traditional insurers such as Hannover re, Munich re, Allianz and HSBC to name a few in to Takaful and Re-Takaful operations.

A conference, themed ‘Returning to our roots; Realising our potential’ kicks-off today in Colombo and will witness the participation of leaders of Takaful from around the world.

It will seek to explore the current practices in the Takaful industry and its conformity of the tenets on which Takaful is based on, as well as discuss possible areas of potential in global and regional markets for both Life and non-life Takaful products.

The conference will see many eminent speakers from the international Takaful circle consisting of both Shari’ah council members as well as Managing Directors of and CEOs of Takaful and Re-Takaful companies.

The conference is part of a series of annual events organised by the ICMIF (International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation), in collaboration with theFOIITC (Federation of Islamic Insurance and Takaful Companies) and GTG (Global Takaful Group). The local hosts are Amana Takaful PLC, Sri Lanka’s flag bearer of Takaful.