We are very pleased to welcome you all to the Eleventh International Takaful Summit. Afkar Limited and their events organiser partner, IstishariQ, pioneered the International Takaful Summits in London in 2007. We have now been able to re-arrange the timing of the Takaful Summit to early July as the overlap with the blessed month of Ramadan has ceased.

The continuing evolution of Takaful provision in many countries portends a raft of new emerging challenges for the growth of Islamic banking, finance and insurance. Reflecting on these potential challenges should enable effective ways to be found to enhance the provision of Takaful.

There are two new developments which can assist in the growth of the Takaful and re-Takaful industry. We have a potential solution for the provision of Re-Takaful for large real estate and construction projects. Indeed we are close to seeing the launch of a full-fledged Takaful Syndicate at Lloyd’s of London. The London Market is also eyeing the Takaful market to bridge any shortfall in business caused by Brexit.

We also continue to deepen our understanding of the kind of Insurtech solutions required to support this industry. The technology disrupters are already at the doors of the insurance industry and Takaful operators need to take heed and come up to speed in this area.

We also note that there is a divergence emerging in the range of acceptable Takaful provision models in many countries. This is a result of experience of the recent past and is a debate which needs to be held. This is leading to a fundamental re-think of the key underlying principles of Takaful enunciated over thirty years ago. Thus issues like the balance between risk sharing and risk transfer and provision of Qard Al Hassana by Takaful operators are coming back to the fore. Hitherto, these subtleties have been addressed non-transparently, via Wakala fees, performance incentives and the like. Many stakeholders in the Takaful industry are now even calling for a move back to mutuality and re-booting of the Takaful models. In this Summit we have allowed time to capture this debate as it could prove to be a watershed moment for the Takaful industry.

The Eleventh International Takaful Summit builds on the ten successful events held in November 2007, July 2008, July 2009, July 2010, July 2011, July 2012, February 2013, February 2014, February 2015 and February 2016.

In the International Takaful Summits we endeavour to enable market participants from all over the world to capture the potential for Islamic Finance and Insurance in the world. At every Summit, we strive to offer robust thought leadership and the most informed platforms and opportunities for our participants to get maximum benefit from this interaction.

We welcome you to the Eleventh International Takaful Summit and hope that you will become one of our many regular participants and supporters.

M Iqbal Asaria, CBE
Convenor
International Takaful Summit 2017