Takaful Great Potential

The 4th Annual World Takaful Conference: Family Takaful Summit Malaysia (WTC: FTS 2013) which began today in Concorde Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, witnessed a high profile opening with more than 500 Takaful operators and agents engaging in discussions on how to capitalise on the huge growth potential for the Family Takaful industry in Malaysia and discussed key strategies for positioning and supporting Family Takaful as the key growth engine for the Takaful industry in Malaysia.

The event, held under the support of Etiqa Takaful Berhad, highlighted the importance of empowering agents to be the driving force of Family Takaful growth.

Mr. McLean said that “whilst the focus on distribution has been to replicate the successes of the conventional counterpart through either the direct sales channel or bancaTakaful, the key to success lies in the development of alternative distribution channels. There are some unique and niche Takaful features that do require a concerted effort and ‘outside the box’ thinking to increase penetration rather than cannibalise the existing conventional customer base. This calls for harmonized and coordinated efforts by both the Operators and the Agents.”

Mr. McLean went on to say that “as the industry seeks to achieve a higher level of competitiveness, increased product complexity, business sophistication, service excellence and the global nature of competition are all demanding a greater depth and breadth of leadership, knowledge, competence and core skills from industry professionals - in particular, the agents – who are the core distribution channel for Family Takaful.”

Mr. Azman also said that “having a great understanding of consumer needs, Takaful agents, who are the face and image of the Family Takaful industry, have a significant role to play in the further development of the Takaful industry and it is essential that there is an ongoing dialogue between the agents and operators.”

Assessing the latest developments in the global Takaful landscape and analysing key challenges and opportunities facing the Takaful industry across the world, Sohail Jaffer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of FWU Global Takaful Solutions noted that “Family Takaful contributions enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate of 32% in the period from 2007 to 2011 with Malaysia dominating both at the regional and global level. The contributions from Malaysia make up around 56% of the total global Family Takaful contributions.”