Opening Remarks: 10 July 2018
12 Years of the International Takaful Summit – Learnings and Opportunities

Speaker: M. Iqbal Asaria, Afkar Group

We are very pleased to welcome you all to the Twelfth International Takaful Summit. The Afkar Group has pioneered the International Takaful Summits in London since 2007. The continuing evolution of Takaful provision in many countries has provided the backdrop for our Summits over the last eleven years. Over this period our aim has been to complement the vision of the pioneers of Takaful in Sudan and Malaysia and provide a forum for debating the successes and challenges facing the Takaful industry.

There are exciting developments which can assist in the growth of the Takaful and Re-Takaful industry. We have a potential Shariah-compliant MGA-based solution for the provision of Re-Takaful for large risks by using the capacity of the global reinsurance industry. The London Market is also eying the Takaful market to bridge any shortfall in business resulting from Brexit. In this Summit, we explore the obstacles and challenges in the way of realising this potential.

As more global actors are getting interested in micro insurance and Micro-Takaful provision to create financial inclusion, we also bring key participants together to discuss how this can be done in a sustainable way.

We continue to deepen our understanding of the kind of insurtech solutions emerging which will challenge traditional ways of Takaful provision and open new vistas for the industry. Again, in the technology space, we explore the challenges posed by cybercrime and the Takaful/insurance solutions that may be required to be offered by providers to enable clients of the industry to effectively mitigate these risks.

Finally, many stakeholders in the Takaful industry are now feeling that the pendulum has moved too far in the direction of risk transfer solutions and are calling for a move back to mutuality and re-booting of the Takaful models. In this Summit we have allowed time to capture this debate as it could prove to be a watershed moment for the Takaful industry.

In the International Takaful Summits we endeavour to enable market participants from all over the world to capture the potential for Islamic Finance and Insurance in the world. At every Summit, we strive to offer robust thought leadership and the most informed platforms and opportunities for our participants to get maximum benefit from this interaction.

This year’s summit builds on the eleven past successful events held in November 2007, July 2008, July 2009, July 2010, July 2011, July 2012, February 2013, February 2014, February 2015, February 2016 and July 2017.

We welcome you to International Takaful Summit 2018 and hope that you will become one of our many regular participants and supporters.