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Middle East Global Advisors (MEGA), a leading financial intelligence platform that promotes Islamic finance, has said it will convene the 14th edition of its World Takaful & InsurTech Conference (WTIC), a global forum for takaful and insurance innovations. The annual conference has played an instrumental role in the development of the Islamic finance industry since its inception in 2006.

According to a statement released by MEGA on Monday, over 300 industry leaders will converge on April 1-2 at the Dubai Mall Hotel, UAE, to discuss the key issues affecting the takaful and insurtech landscape.

Takaful – an Arabic word meaning to take care of one another’s needs or guaranteeing each other – is a type of Islamic insurance where members (instead of paying premiums as in conventional insurance) contribute money into a pool system to protect themselves against loss or damage. Participants in the system agree to assist a person in need to indemnify their loss and provide them with financial help. Takaful has seen a growing presence in Western countries, especially as the London market aims to develop an ideal framework for Islamic insurance.

Insurtechs are firms leveraging digital technology to provide insurance coverage to a wider customer base and improve customer experience. Much like fintechs, insuretechs are creating massive disruption in the insurance sector. This calls for an urgent need for the insurance sector to evolve and adapt.  

MEGA said although the takaful industry accounts for just 2 per cent of total Islamic finance assets, making it the smallest contributor to the Islamic finance industry, there is a strong trend of consolidation within the industry.

“While the Takaful industry grew by a CAGR of 6 per cent by 2017, it remains relatively untapped at US$ 46 billion, accounting for just 2 per cent of total Islamic finance assets, signifying that there lie key opportunities for the sector to grow,” Ehsan Abbas, Chairman of Middle East Global Advisors, said. “As the insurance ecosystem is witnessing transformation and innovation at an incredible pace, leveraging technology to achieve cost efficiency and productivity is of utmost importance.”

One of the speakers at the WTIC 2019, Dave Matcham, Chief Executive, International Underwriting Association of London (IUA), will deliver an address on embracing innovation and technology in the insurance industry to achieve industry-wide transformation.
 
“Following the launch of a set of guiding principles for the trading of commercial (re) Takaful business, there is a growing expectation and optimism that more opportunities will present themselves to London market carriers,” said Matcham. “By leveraging the unique infrastructure for commercial business within the market, both Lloyd’s syndicates and companies operating in the London market are evaluating these opportunities through existing or new trading entities in discussion with key Islamic clients and stakeholders.”

WTIC 2019 will also feature keynote addresses by Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO, Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC); an exclusive one-on-one interview with Zia Zaman, Chief Executive Officer, Lumen Lab & Chief Innovation Officer, Metlife Asia; among several others. Zaman is one of the most notable figures in insurance innovations. He will discuss MetLife Asia’s experimental product – Vitana, the world’s first automated insurance solution that offers pregnant women claimless financial protection using blockchain technology, in case of gestational diabetes, a condition affecting up to one in five expectant mothers in Singapore.

Vitana also offers customers improved data security as it performs parametric underwriting on the customer’s mobile device, meaning the insurance company does not require access to the underlying medical data to confirm insurability.

The two-day long forum will take place with the strategic partnership of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the support of the Insurance Authority (IA) and the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC). The theme of the WTIC 2019 is “Reinforcing Customer Engagement and Operational Agility through Digital Transformation.” Interested participants should visit www.wtc19.com for more information and to register.