Malaysian Life Reinsurance Group (MLRe), a joint venture between the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia and Reinsurance Group of America, has launched a retakaful window to contribute up to 10% of its premium within the next three years.
The retakaful window, launched in December 2023 with a licence to operate granted from the ministry of finance, allows the group to offer family retakaful services, reported Bernama News Agency.
During the launch, MLRe chairman Kamaruddin Taib said, “The decision to enter the retakaful market is a well-considered strategic move to reflect our role as a key player in this growing sector. This step is also in line with Malaysia’s vision to be a major hub of Islamic finance.”
MLRe CEO Patrick Cheah, said, “At the moment, we are just in the early days. So our expectation is within three years to hopefully reach 10% of our total premiums. It’s a tall order, I wouldn’t deny that. But I think with our strength...we are able to provide the local support wherever necessary. And we can grow quite fast.”
Mr Cheah said that MLRe sees significant growth potential in the retakaful space in Malaysia as takaful operators are currently showing a very high growth rate. As such, the goal of the retakaful window is to introduce tailored retakaful solutions to meet the evolving needs of takaful operators.
“We are the market leaders in the conventional life [reinsurance] space and if we do not participate in the retakaful market, we are just going to lose out. We want to ensure that we are there to support not only the industry but the national agenda as well,” he said.
Mr Cheah pointed out that the establishment of its retakaful window will also support BNM’s vision of a national insurance and takaful penetration rate of 75% of the population.
He said, “A lot of the reinsurance players are effectively multinationals. We are the first local life reinsurer.
“With the movement towards Islamisation, we are well supported to grow on the retakaful side as well. By creating the retakaful window, we give another avenue of capacity to clients.”