Takaful (Islamic Insurance)

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June 30

TAKAFUL

2010
MBA 4th Morning Finance

Mehran Arshad (08-arid-1476) Submitted To: Sir Arshad Hassan

TAKAFUL
INTRODUCTION
Takaful is an Islamic insurance concept which is grounded in Islamic banking transactions, observing the rules and regulations of Islamic law. This concept has been practiced in various forms for over 1400 years. Muslim jurists acknowledge that the basis of shared responsibility in the system of Aquila as practiced between Muslims of Mecca and Medina laid the foundation of mutual insurance. Takaful is perceived as cooperative or mutual insurance, where members contribute a certain sum of money to a common pool. The purpose of this system is not profits but to uphold the principle of "bear ye one another's burden." Commercial insurance is strictly not allowed for Muslims as agreed upon by most contemporary scholars because it contains the following elements:  Al-Gharar (Uncertainty)  Al-Maisir (Gambling)
 Riba (Interest)

ISLAMIC REFERENCES TO TAKAFUL
These fundamentals are based on the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). Based on the Hadith and Quranic verses mentioned below, Islamic scholars had decided that there should be a concerted effort to implement the Takaful concept as the best way to resolve these needs. Some of the examples are:  Basis of Co-operation Help one another in al-Birr and in al-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety): but do not help one another in sin and transgression. (Sarah Al-Maidah, Verse 2).  Allah will always help His servant for as long as he helps others. (Narrated by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and Imam Abu Daud)

 Basis of Responsibility: The place of relationships and feelings of people with faith, between each other, is just like the body; when one of its parts is afflicted with pain, then the rest of the body will be affected. (Narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim)  Basis of Mutual Protection By my life, which is in Allah’s Power, nobody will enter Paradise if he does not protect his neighbor who is in distress (Narrated by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal). The basic fundamentals underlying the Takaful concept are very similar to co-operative and mutual principles, to the extent that the co-operative and mutual model is one that is accepted under Islamic Law.

PRINCIPLES OF TAKAFUL
The principles of Takaful are as follows:  Policyholders cooperate among themselves for their common good.  Every policyholder pays his subscription to help those that need assistance.  Losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system.  Uncertainty is eliminated in respect of subscription and compensation.  It does not derive advantage at the cost of others.

DRAW BACKS OF CONVENTIONAL INSURANCE
 The participant contributes a small amount of premium in a hope to gain a large sum (Khatar).  The participant loses the money paid for the premium when the insured event does not occur (Gharar).  The company will be in deficit if the claims are higher than the amount contributed by the participants (Gharar).  The element of Riba (Interest) exists in lending or borrowing funds/investments at fixed interest, and other related practices in the investment activities of the conventional insurance companies.

MODELS OF TAKAFUL
1. Mudarabah Model 2. Wakalah Model (hybrid of Wakalah & Mudarabah) 3. Wakalah based on Waqf Model

MUDARABAH MODEL
 The participant and the operator enter into a Mudarabah contract from the beginning of the relation, for indemnification and share of the underwriting results.  The Surplus is shared between the participants and the TAKAFUL operator in an agreed ratio.  This model allows the takaful operator to share in the underwriting results from operations as well as the favorable performance returns on invested premiums.

SHARIAH CONCERNS
 The relation between the participants is that of tabarru’ and not Mudarabah, “Profit Sharing” can’t be applied here. Donation cannot be Mudarabah capital at the same time.  In a Mudarabah contract, a profit is to be generated to be distributed. Profit is not the same as ‘Surplus’ (excess of premiums over claims, reserves and expenses) and in the insurance context no definition can be generated by definition.  The sharing in underwriting surplus itself is something which is similar to making this into a commercial business venture and not a mutual contract for assistance and protection.  The requirement to provide QARD HASANAH (in case of a deficit) in a Mudarabah contract by definition is against the concept of Mudarabah which is a profit sharing contract and a MUDARIB cannot be a guarantor.

WAKALAH MODEL
 Cooperative risk sharing occurs among the participants whereas the takaful operator earns a fee for services (as a WAKEEL or Agent).  The operator earns an upfront deductible fee and shares the profit of investments; it does not share the results of underwriting.

WAQF MODEL
In order to eliminate the element of “MAYSER”, the concept of ‘WAQF’ and ‘TABARRU’ is incorporated. In relation to this participants shall agree to relinquish as “donation” certain amount of money. The Takaful Fund, consisting of the contributions paid as Tabarru, will be further invested by the Company based on the principle of Islamic modes of Trades, through which the element of interest (RIBA) will be replaced.

WAQF MODEL

WAQF MODEL (SOME BASIC FEATURES)
 A Waqf Fund is established by the shareholders of Takaful Company through the contribution of ‘Ceding amount’ (part of the Capital) to compensate the beneficiaries or participant of Takaful scheme. The Ceding amount of the Waqf will remain invested.  Any person by signing the proposal form, contributing to the Waqf and subscribing to the policy documents shall become the member of the Waqf fund.  The Waqf fund shall work to achieve the following objectives: a. To extend financial assistance to its members in the event of losses b. To extend benefits to its members strictly in accordance with the Waqf Deed. c. To donate to Charities approved by the SHARIAH Supervisory Board  The Waqf Fund will lay down the rules for distribution of its funds to the beneficiaries and will decide how much compensation should be given to a subscriber/member.  The Waqf will become owner of all contributions and has the right to act as a legal entity as per its terms for investment, compensations and dealing with the surplus amounts.  The Takaful Company may distribute the surplus amounts on the following three bases: 1. A portion of surplus should be kept as reserve to mitigate the future losses. 2. A portion of surplus should be distributed among the participants to differentiate it from the conventional insurance procedures. 3. A portion of surplus should be utilized for the charitable purposes every year.  As per the rules of the Waqf, if the fund is liquidated, the outstanding balance, after paying all dues and payables, will be utilized to charitable purposes.  The Takaful Company, while managing the Waqf Fund, will play two different roles simultaneously: 1. Operator/Manager 2. MUDARIB  As Operator/Manager, the Takaful Company will perform all functions necessary for the operations of the Waqf against a WAKALA fee to be deducted from the Contributions of the Participants.

 As MUDARIB of the fund, the Takaful Company will manage the investment of the excess funds of the Waqf into SHARIAH compliant investments and will participate in the profit of the fund’s investments at a fixed ratio of profit.

THE COUNTRY
Pakistan is a very large country with a population of over 160 million people of which almost 98% are Muslims. Its economic indicators have shown improvements over the last couple of years and the insurance industry has been showing fairly healthy growth.

THE INSURANCE MARKET IN PAKISTAN
The Insurance sector in general is highly underdeveloped in the country in terms of market penetration. Less than 2% of the population is covered under any kind of life insurance plan. On the General Insurance side it is felt that other than the large public sector or private sector listed companies who insure their assets, most small businesses are not insured (other than where mandated by law such as Marine business). Personal lines insurance such as for personal property, motor vehicles, family health etc hardly exist barring where required by law (for instance in the case of leased cars which has become a very fast growing market) or where provided by the employer such as Group life and Health insurance. There could be a number of reasons for this low penetration in the Insurance sector. These may include:  Lack of efforts by the Insurance companies to expand their services in a wider context, most companies concentrating on core businesses in major cities only  Lack of Trust on the Insurance sector in terms of their claim paying practices  Low level of awareness amongst the masses of the concept of insurance  Religious reasons as all insurance companies are based on conventional principles  Cost reasons, as businesses cannot afford the extra costs related to insurance  Low level of savings in general resulting in less people buying life insurance  Low returns by Life Insurance companies resulting in other financial instruments being used for savings  Lack of tax incentives  Lack of demanding consumers

OPPORTUNITIES IN PAKISTAN
GENERAL TAKAFUL
1. The business figures for the industry for 2002 indicate a total market premium of about Rs. 11.5 billion with 42 companies operating. Of this amount almost 92% is written by the top ten companies. The growth in the industry premium has been around 12 to 15% p.a. in the last three years. A 5% switch of the existing insured to takaful companies could mean a premium income of over Rs. 600 million. Achieving this would naturally take time as the concept of takaful is new and it may take some time before people start becoming aware of this alternative and accept this alternative system. 2. Besides, National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) underwrites government business with premium of around Rs. 2.5 billion. With pressure on the government to permit this business to open competition, this represents another potential market which takaful operators can explore with government support. 3. A fairly significant portion of businesses and individuals do not insure themselves due to non-compliance of the conventional insurance contracts to SHARIAH principles. More importantly a Takaful company may cater to the needs of Islamic financial institutions, which have currently no option but to insure through conventional means. Leasing companies (especially Car IJARAH contracts) may also provide potential customers who would like to insure on a Takaful basis. 4. An international takaful study indicated market potential for takaful in Pakistan to be US$ 76 million (Rs. 4.5 billion) for 2015.

FAMILY TAKAFUL (LIFE INSURANCE)
5. The Life Insurance market has also grown fairly rapidly over the past five years with private sector life insurance companies being allowed to operate in the country. There are six life insurance companies in the country with a total premium income for 2002 of about Rs. 11.2 billion. Out of which individual life policies account for over 175,000 new policies being issued each year with an annual premium income of Rs. 1.9 billion. Renewal of old policies for over 1.8 million policyholders accounted for Rs. 7.2 billion in annual premium income.

Further more than 7.2 million individuals were covered under Group life contracts through their employers paying an annual premium of Rs. 2.1 billion. 6. Group Life and Health insurance contracts are widely used by employers to cover their employees losses related to death, disability and medical expenses. Such contracts covering more than 7.5 million individuals can very easily be offered on a Takaful basis.

OBSTACLES
GENERAL TAKAFUL
1. LEGAL (TAKAFUL RULES / SHARIAH BOARD) ASPECTS

As per the Insurance Ordinance 2000, “Takaful” means a scheme based on mutual assistance in compliance with the provisions of Islamic SHARIAH, and which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of occurrence of certain contingencies and whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute to the common fund for that purpose. There are (at this stage) legal obstacles in the establishment of a takaful operator. Takaful Rules need to be developed so that a takaful operator can be given permission to operate under the guidelines of those rules. There would also be a need to have a central SHARIAH Advisory Board with which SECP would need to take approval/advice prior to approval of products and other documentation filed by insurance companies. 2. CONSUMER MINDSET Consumer’s mindset has become such that they have the tendency to try to recover the premium that they have paid to an insurance company. A number of malpractices have crept into the system because of this mindset. Changing this mindset can become a major challenge for a takaful operator. It would need to ensure that like the conventional system, compromises do not creep into the system due to pressures from clients. It may be important for a takaful operator to avoid insuring such consumers as they can affect the credibility of the takaful system and ensure that operational controls are not compromised. 3. INVESTMENT ASPECTS The Investment Rules would need to be framed to allow for SHARIAH compliant investment options but with limitations to protect the takaful funds from being invested in highly risky alternatives. Investment Avenues in SHARIAH compliant investments are still limited. With

more Islamic banks and window products likely to be available in the future, it is hoped that this critical obstacle may be overcome.

FAMILY TAKAFUL
4. INVESTMENTS Investment issues are all the more relevant to a Family takaful operator as more funds accumulate due to renewal premiums on long term plans and consumer expectations of better returns on their investments. Different guidelines for these funds would also need to be adopted which should reflect the product features and the statutory funds to which the assets would belong. 5. WINDOW PRODUCTS It is suggested that window products for Family Takaful plans should be permitted. The reason for this being that it is much more difficult to develop a Family takaful business in terms of its infrastructure needs such as distribution capacity as well as creating a large enough need due to the stronger public perception of Life insurance being unIslamic. It may therefore be relatively difficult for a new company to come in with family takaful plans as its only business especially with a larger capital requirement. Further, the issues related to malpractices etc especially on the claims side would not be a major obstacle on the life side (as the event primarily insured is death of a person). It is therefore suggested to allow Family Takaful products to be launched by existing life insurance companies with strict guidelines defined in terms of operational practices and surplus distribution policies.

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