News, Takaful Corner

Three Companies Mull Takaful JV

Plans to launch a Takaful joint venture, involving Qatar Islamic Bank, broker Beema and Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generalli, are underway.

Italan insurer Assicurazioni Generali, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), and broker Beema are looking into forming a joint venture in the takaful sector. QIB chairman, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, said: “QIB is delighted to look into the possibilities of establishing strategic partnerships in the takaful business with a view to create a leading takaful player. Our plans are to launch the takaful products in the GCC countries first, giving priority to our local and regional markets, and then place a particular focus on geographic areas which are relevant to takaful.”

Generali CEO, Sergio Balbinot, said: “Our group gives a strategic value to Takaful products in the light of demographic, economic and insurance factors. One quarter of the world population is Muslim and 60 per cent of Muslims are under 25. Islamic countries produce 23 per cent of the wealth generated by emerging markets, although their insurance penetration indexes are still low.”