No man is such a conqueror as the man who has defeated himself

Time to move to takaful 2.0


A conference on the future and expansion of takaful, called Takaful Rendezvous 2011, took place in Malaysia under the banner of Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF) from October 4 to 6. Although the industry has come far in a short period of time, more needs to be done.

A conference on the future and expansion of takaful, called Takaful Rendezvous 2011, took place in Malaysia under the banner of Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF) from October 4 to 6. Although the industry has come far in a short period of time, more needs to be done.

A conference on the future and expansion of takaful, called Takaful Rendezvous 2011, took place in Malaysia under the banner of Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF) from October 4 to 6. Although the industry has come far in a short period of time, more needs to be done.

Much like the $640-billion (Dh2.35 trillion) halal industry, takaful needs to rise and address some of the challenges on size, representative industry body, and perception.

The known challenges in the takaful are well documented: human capital development, regulations, distribution channels, Sharia structures, governance and transparency, investment options, retakaful, and so on. Thus, at one level, takaful is encountering similar issues to Islamic finance and banking but has matured less.

Three takeaways

Today, we have, at last count, more than 177 takaful operators, predominantly in the GCC region and Malaysia. Yet this represents only single digit percentage penetration in all Muslim countries except Malaysia. The existing scenario implies three possible takeaways:
1. Muslims (in OIC countries) have yet to buy in into the takaful story on a larger scale, because existing ways and means addresses their needs. Their children and community/mosque act as de-facto ‘takaful operators'. The attitude may be: what they have is Sharia compliant and it works for their particular needs in the jurisdictions they reside.

2. The education and awareness of what takaful is, how it is compliant, and how it benefits them is a time-drawn process. It requires patient commitment and ongoing resources from the operators. The initial ‘returns' can be classified as awareness and institutional brand building, i.e., the ‘good-will' foundation for financial returns.

3. Takaful, much like the halal industry, has not ‘linked' well with the Islamic finance story, although both are very much a part of the latter. When takaful premiums are less than $10 billion and most operators are small in size, it needs to be a holistic and integrated part of the anchor story of Islamic finance.
One simple acid test is news coverage: How many takaful stories appear in the western media compared to Islamic finance? How many meaningful stories on takaful in Muslim country media vis-à-vis Islamic finance and halal industry?

Mega operator

Today, the conversation in Islamic finance is about an Islamic mega bank to offset small paid-up capital with size, to have a larger balance sheet to better compete with Islamic subsidiaries and home-country conventional banks, and to have impact on investing and financing. However, today's takaful conversation is often times on micro-takaful, much like micro-finance, to serve the under-served.

Some Muslim countries are Islamically over-banked and over-takaful compared to population size, resulting in margin-reducing (destructive) competition. If an Islamic bank or takaful operator, compared to conventional counter-parts, declares bankruptcy, it may actually result in a confidence crisis and systemic risk for the embryonic Islamic finance industry. Thus, the unique situation of ‘too small to fail' risk exists in the Islamic finance.

For example, witness the selected western media ‘frenzy' when Kuwait's Investment Dar, defaulted on its sukuk obligation or the United States' East Cameron gas sukuk went into bankruptcy.

The conversation in the takaful industry must also include establishing a mega takaful operator, either via consolidation or licence, as the status quo may not be conducive to for industry's growth and development. To offset fears of uncompetitive behaviour of larger size Islamic banks and takaful operators, there are regulations plus option of reaching out to the Sharia board, via the Sharia liaison officer or department, of such institutions for ‘anti-competitive' behaviour.

Industry body

Who is the spokesperson for the takaful industry? We have exposure to issues in takaful by industry bodies such as Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), and Accounting & Auditing Organisation of Islamic Financial Insititutions (AAOIFI), but a dedicated industry body is the need of the hour. The push back in certain quarters has been that it is premature to have an industry body. The same response was also articulated pre-1991 when AAOIFI was established.

The first order of business is the location of the proposed takaful industry body: the UAE or Qatar over Bahrain and Malaysia. To date, we do not have an Islamic industry body in either the UAE or Qatar, hence, an opportunity for these countries to contribute as important stakeholders in Islamic finance. Information about Islamic finance should not just be available in Bahrain and Malaysia, the two leading hubs of Islamic industry.

Global ‘go-to' point

The second and more important function of a proposed takaful industry body is what should be the role and responsibilities? It will address the well known issues, but something more is required. We need a global ‘go-to' point and clearing base of information for takaful to avoid continued fragmentation and move towards standardisation.

Thus, takaful's time has come to move towards 2.0, with stronger links to Islamic finance, where less may be better and a dedicated industry body explaining the DNA of takaful.






Source : global islamic finance magazine
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Info | Harga rumah naik 20 peratus

Peningkatan kos bahan mentah, isu kuota Bumiputera beban pemaju

PUTRAJAYA: Unjuran harga hartanah akan meningkat sehingga 20 peratus dalam separuh kedua 2011 bukan disebabkan permintaan pasaran yang tinggi, tetapi sebaliknya berpunca daripada kenaikan harga bahan binaan dan kos pembinaan.
Presiden Persatuan Pemaju Hartanah dan Perumahan Malaysia (REHDA), Datuk Seri Michael K C Yam, berkata berdasarkan maklum balas diperoleh daripada sektor berkenaan, 65 peratus berpendapat harga hartanah akan meningkat sehingga 20 peratus menjelang akhir tahun ini.
Sehubungan itu, katanya, 47 peratus pemaju berkata, mereka bercadang menaikkan harga jualan bagi projek masing-masing sehingga 15 peratus menjelang pelancaran jualannya akhir tahun ini.

“Pemaju kini dibebani kenaikan harga batu bata, besi, simen dan pasir, selain masalah kekurangan tenaga kerja, manakala sikap tidak telus dan kegagalan pihak berkuasa tempatan (PBT) menangani isu perumahan bagi kuota Bumiputera turut menyumbang kepada peningkatan kos operasi pemaju.

“Harga batu bata meningkat 27 peratus kepada 42 sen tahun ini berbanding 33 sen tahun lalu, harga besi kerangka meningkat 13 peratus kepada RM2,589 satu tan berbanding RM2,285 satu tan pada 2010. Sejak Julai lalu, harga simen, pasir, batu bata dan besi masing-masing naik lagi sehingga 46.2 peratus, 81.1 peratus, 47.2 peratus dan 69.5 peratus.

“Jadi, Panel Majlis Kebangsaan REHDA menggesa supaya peruntukan kuota Bumiputera disemak semula kerana ia antara punca utama pemaju menanggung kerugian, selain dibebani kenaikan harga bahan binaan,” katanya ketika dihubungi semalam.
Mengikut syarat sekarang, pemaju mesti memperuntukkan antara 30 hingga 70 peratus unit rumah untuk kuota Bumiputera dan unit yang tidak terjual hanya boleh dilepaskan jika mendapat kelulusan kerajaan negeri berkenaan.

Pemaju juga perlu membayar kadar diskaun tujuh peratus untuk kuota Bumiputera sebagai levi kepada kerajaan negeri berkenaan.

Michael berkata, unit rumah kuota Bumiputera kurang diminati pembeli Bumiputera sendiri kerana ia hanya boleh dijual kepada pembeli Bumiputera saja, sekali gus menyukarkan mereka mendapatkan pembeli pada masa depan.

Beliau berkata, fenomena itu menyebabkan pembeli Bumiputera lebih cenderung membeli unit rumah bukan kuota Bumiputera dan keuntungan pemaju pula terjejas kerana tidak ada pembeli untuk unit rumah kuota Bumiputera itu.

Katanya, syarat kuota Bumiputera itu harus dikaji semula kerana bimbang industri hartanah mungkin diperalatkan sebagai senjata politik pihak tertentu.

Bagaimanapun, beliau menyifatkan pasaran hartanah negara masih kukuh kerana bergantung kepada pembeli tempatan yang menduduki sendiri hartanah dibeli, sekali gus terlindung daripada kemerosotan ekonomi yang memberi kesan ketara terhadap pasaran hartanah di negara maju.

Berdasarkan Laporan Kaji Selidik Industri Hartanah REHDA bagi separuh pertama tahun ini, hanya 52 peratus pemaju, berbanding 55 peratus pemaju pada separuh pertama 2010, melancarkan projek baru.

Walaupun jumlah projek baru berkurangan, purata saiznya bertambah kepada 150 unit setiap projek pada separuh pertama 2011 berbanding hanya 100 unit bagi tempoh sama tahun lalu, sekali gus membuktikan pemaju lebih cenderung memilih projek mempunyai permintaan pasaran tinggi.

PROTECT NOW !!! Perunding Takaful KamiNajib ( T50133P ) : 0162085201 ( najib.maatakaful@gmail.com )Helmi ( T50132X ) : 0192721772 ( helmi.maatakaful@gmail.com)



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