Takaful Potential

Bank Simpanan National (BSN) aims to aggressively grow its newly launched wealth management division by tapping into the underserved takaful market.

Its deputy chief executive of credit management and business support Winston E. Jeyaprakash said it is looking for the wealth management division, which was launched in June, to contribute between 12% and 15% to the bank's revenue by end-2012

"It (takaful business) is a lucrative market because the penetration rate is low in this country. The majority of BSN's customers are Muslim and it is a lucrative avenue for us to tap into," he told reporters yesterday at the launch of Giro Takaful Hajj.

He said the division aims to provide a full range of financial planning products and services to complement the overall business of the bank with further value-added products and services.

"We noticed the growing demand for financial management products among Malaysians, whether financial planning for retirement, education, healthcare or others. We offer products for each lifecycle to support the financial needs of our customers," Jeyaprakash said.

He added that BSN is looking to package products from its wholly-owned subsidiary Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd (PruBSN) with existing products.

Jointly launched by PruBSN and BSN, the Giro Takaful Hajj is a family takaful plan that provides protection and savings.

Available since August, Jeyaprakash said it is the sixth product launched under the PruBSN and BSN partnership and sales have been encouraging so far.

PruBSN CEO Azim K. Mithani said: "Building on our relationship with BSN as a shareholder and distributor is crucial and vital towards growing our bancatakaful business and is in line with PruBSN's aspiration to be the number one local takaful operator."

He added that as of June, PruBSN's share of the takaful market in Malaysia was 27%, making it the second biggest company in the industry.

PruBSN distributes its products through its own agencies, Affin Islamic and BSN, which currently has eight million customers and 385 branches. BSN opens eight to 10 new branches each year.