New takaful rules for Bahrain are expected to be finalised and implemented by the end of the year, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) said yesterday (December 5).

This comes after the regulator considered the views and comments received from the takaful and retakaful industry through a consultation process and meetings, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

The CBB had, in October this year, introduced enhanced rules on the operational and solvency framework for consultation.

The industry was asked to review the new framework and submit comments by November 10.

Meetings were also held with the industry to facilitate understanding of the new rules.

"The enhanced framework has been drafted with an objective of strengthening the solvency position of firms, enhancing operational efficiency of business, and safeguarding the interest of all stakeholders," CBB executive director for financial institutions supervision Abdul Rahman Al Baker said.

"The new framework will ensure that the firms, both new to the business and incumbents, have adequate liquidity and are able to generate surplus through operational efficiency.

"This will help the takaful firms to not only effectively compete with each other but also with their conventional insurance counterparts," he added. – TradeArabia News Service