Mutual understanding?

The burgeoning takaful industry still has issues to resolve when it comes to regulation, marketing and Shariah compliance. Daniel Stanton reports from Takaful 08 in Bahrain.

The takaful industry has come a long way since the first Islamic insurance firm was established in Sudan less than 40 years ago, but in the Gulf some of the foundations still need work before it can progress.

Not only do some regulations need to be tightened, but there are large parts of the economy that are still not utilising takaful products.

Peter Hodgins, senior legal consultant in the Islamic finance group at DLA Piper Middle East, says that completion risk in the construction industry presents a major opportunity for takaful providers, since there are billions of dollars of projects currently underway.

"The opportunity here for the takaful industry is enormous, but it's a question of whether it has the capacity and the experience at this stage to underwrite those kinds of risks," says Hodgins.

"I think that will come in time, but there is a clear opportunity."

However, he admits the major driving force behind adoption of takaful products will be individuals. "The driver is always going to be personal lines because from a revenue perspective there is an awful lot of money to be made in that sector," he says.

The inherent attraction of takaful as an ethics-based product is always going to appeal more to individuals than organisations, which may be more profit-driven."

Hodgins believe that takaful providers could be doing more to differentiate themselves from conventional insurance companies, particularly in terms of their ethical positioning.

"There is presently a perception - I'm not saying it's a correct perception - that the insurance companies don't like to pay claims, that you will always meet obstruction, that claims won't be paid in a timely manner," says Hodgins.

Given that there is that perception, takaful operators ought to be trading on the back of it to say, we're different, we are an ethical company, it doesn't matter if you're Muslim or not, the fact is we have ethical standards and when we deal with your claims, you will likewise be dealt with in an ethical way.

One of the biggest challenges for takaful firms is that regulatory and Shariah requirements differ between jurisdictions, making it difficult to come up with products that can be offered internationally.

There are different models of what is acceptable around the world, but we seem to be heading towards a period of standardisation in takaful," says Hodgins.

AAOIFI (the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions) has issued a number of standards now, and I think if you live up to them you ensure that you're hitting the most rigorous regimes. So you ought to be able to roll out your product around the world.

The question, he says, is how non-Muslim countries will accommodate Islamic finance within their regulations, but he says that it will not be long before global takaful operations are possible. He points out that multinational insurance firms such as AIG and Hannover Re are entering the takaful market, which they would not do unless they anticipated being able to roll out global products.

On the regulatory side, one part of the problem in the Gulf is that sometimes the necessary regulations do not exist.

"In the UAE, the insurance law is still very skeletal," says Hodgins. "At the moment it's very difficult to advise prospective overseas conventional insurers who are looking to move into the region.

It's very difficult to give clear and definitive advice as to how they would establish themselves and what they would need to do in their day-to-day operations without having to resort to one of the regulators to ask questions of detail."

For instance, takaful and conventional insurance providers operating from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) are prohibited by federal law from doing direct business in the UAE, although they may offer reinsurance.

They may provide direct insurance to customers in other countries, depending on the laws in those jurisdictions.

However, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is understood to be consulting on proposals which would allow the DIFC's insurance providers to offer life products directly.