Indonesia: Takaful sector eager to have obstacles to market growth removed
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2025
Structural obstacles are hampering the development of the takaful industry in Indonesia, including regulations that do not sufficiently accommodated the characteristics of Shariah insurance.
This was stated by Mr Ma’ruf Amin, chair of the supervisory board of Manulife Syariah Indonesia, as he highlighted regulatory challenges in accelerating the growth of the takaful market.
Speaking at a recent media conference, he said that Shariah insurance players were gathering information on obstacles to the development of takaful which need to be resolved for Islamic insurance to grow more rapidly and evenly. Among the stumbling blocks are regulations.
Mr Ma’ruf expressed optimistic about the takaful sector. He said that the Indonesian market has the potential to surpass that of Malaysia, which is a Islamic insurance hub.
He said that Malaysia developed takaful earlier and therefore has a headstart on Indonesia. However, the population of Malaysia is smaller than that of Indonesia. “We are optimistic that our potential is greater,” he added.
Mr Ma’ruf was once the chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council and is a former vice president of the Republic of Indonesia. M