218 AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC FINANCE
TRENDS IN THE TAKAFUL MARKET
■ (^) The Gulf Co - operation Council (GCC) region remains one of the
strongholds for takaful, with a total volume exceeding US$3.7
billion in 2008 and accounting for more than half of the global
takaful market for that year (US$5.3 billion).
■ (^) In Southeast Asia, Malaysia holds the strongest position in vol-
ume of takaful contributions, which stood at US$889 million in
- Indeed, the country is a glowing example of how takaful is
part of the fi nancial awareness of customers: some banks report a
share of non - Muslim takaful customers of over 50 percent and in
some cases, over 70 percent, a sign of the successful integration of
takaful in Malaysia.
■ (^) The number of takaful operators globally grew from 133 in 2007
to 179 within a year. For such a nascent industry, it has shown
no signs of abating and quite a strong resilience demonstrated by
a net contributions growth of 18 percent for Malaysia and gross
premium growth of 28 percent for Saudi Arabia in 2008, a stark
contrast with the conventional sector (with an average of 2.5 per-
cent). In the GCC, Saudi Arabia is a fl agship market for takaful
and witnessed strong growth in 2008. Gross written premiums
reached SAR10.9 billion (US$2.9 billion), up from SAR8.6 bil-
lion (US$2.29 billion) in 2007, representing an increase of 27 per-
cent, compared to 24 percent in 2007. Fifty - one percent of those
premiums generated stem from general insurance (a growth of
6.3 percent to SAR5.5 billion (US$1.46 billion) in 2008 compared
to SAR5.2 billion (US$1.38 billion) in 2007), 44 percent comes
from health insurance [a growth of 57 percent to SAR4.8 billion
(US$1.27 billion) in 2008 compared to SAR3.1 billion (US$826
million) in 2007] and the rest comes from life takaful.
■ (^) One of the positive trends in this market is that recently there is
an increasing number of joint ventures between local and inter-
national fi nancial institutions. For example, in November 2008,
Zurich Financial Services signed an agreement to establish a joint
venture with Abu Dhabi National Takaful. In June 2009, AXA
announced its partnership with Salama in the UAE. In Saudi Ara-
bia, FWU Group, the global takaful provider, has a stake in Al Ahli
Takaful Company and has forged successful distribution partner-
ships, such as with National Commercial Bank. FWU Group also
enjoys a very successful partnership with AMAN, based in Dubai.
In November 2009, Allianz Takaful and Standard Chartered
Bank announced a fi ve - year sales agreement to promote insurance
products from Allianz Takaful in Bahrain. Allianz has received