More than 250 leading players, key regulators and thought leaders in the regional Islamic insurance industry will gather tomorrow (October 13) in Bahrain as a major two-day takaful forum gets underway.

The theme of third annual Middle East Takaful Forum (METF 2014) running at Gulf Hotel is "Building Scale: Fresh thinking to boost the efficiency, profitability and scale of Islamic co-operative insurance players", reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

It is being held under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and will provide a platform to assess new strategies for capitalising on key growth drivers for the regional Islamic insurance industry.

After the moderator's opening remarks delivered by European Islamic finance consultancy ASSAIF's managing partner Dr Alberto Brugnoni, the forum will be officially inaugurated with an opening address by CBB executive director for financial institutions supervision Abdul Rahman Al Baker.

Al Baker will review progress to date and propose the next steps in strengthening the regulatory framework for takaful.

A key focus of his address will be strengthening the capital base and how the international regulatory environment is evolving with regard to solvency, capital adequacy and disclosure requirements.

"The Middle East Takaful industry has established a solid track record of strong growth over the past few years and the outlook for the industry in the region continues to look positive, with forecasts projecting double-digit growth rates," he said.

"However, factors such as increasing competition, operational issues and corporate governance will pose the major challenges to the industry going forward."

The opening session will be followed by a keynote address from Malaysia's Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA) director Dr Eddy Chong Siong Choy, on lessons from Southeast Asia for the Middle East region's takaful industry. "Despite key developments in both Malaysia and the GCC countries there is still a genuine lack of awareness and understanding among large segments of Muslims about takaful products," said Dr Choy.

"In addition a scarcity of talent has inhibited the accelerated growth of the industry."

A key highlight of METF 2014 will be the power debate session focussed on how the regional takaful industry could build critical mass and move to the next level of development.

Thomson Reuters research manager and emerging markets specialist Ammar Radhi will lead the discussion and the debaters are: Bahrain Insurance Association treasurer Mohamed Radhi, Milliman managing director and consulting actuary for Middle East and Africa Safder Jaffer, Africa Retakaful managing director Omar Gouda and Emirates Retakaful chief executive Mohamed Hussein El Dishish.

The expert speakers at the forum include Takaful Emarat Insurance chief executive Wael Al Sharif, Legal and General Gulf chief executive Sohail Ali, Takaful Re general manager Firas El Azem, Hannover ReTakaful Managing Director Mahomed Akoob, ACR ReTakaful MEA Chief Executive Prem Sagar, MNK Re managing director and chief executive Manoj Kumar, KPMG Fakhro senior manager for insurance audit and advisory Adeel Mushtaq, Takaful Outsource co-founder and director Muktisjah Ramli and Islamic International Rating Agency chief executive Sabeen Saleem.

Topics being discussed at the event are: Aligning takaful with market needs; ReTakaful; Key international research initiatives and implications; Making Sharia-compliant life insurance a viable proposition; Addressing solvency, legal and risk management priorities; Optimising distribution strategies; Opportunities for pension plans and defined contribution business; Re-Looking asset management and investment strategies and Reviewing Sharia framework. – TradeArabia News Service