The regional insurance industry will gather together 250 of their best and brightest for a two day conference at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain on October 1st and 2nd.

The theme of this year’s Second Annual Middle East Takaful Forum (METF 2013) is ‘Adapting to Change: Fresh Thinking to Boost the Efficiency, Profitability and Scale of Islamic Co-operative Insurance Players.’

Under the auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain the focus of the forum will be on finding new strategies for capitalizing on the main factors driving growth in the regional Islamic insurance industry and finding the best ways to overcome the challenges of increased competition in the emerging industry.

“The Global takaful industry has been experiencing double-digit growth rates, with the GCC and Malaysia being the major drivers,” METF chief executive David McLean said.

“A critical factor that will determine success in taking the industry to the next level of development will be the readiness of industry players to formulate and execute successful strategies in response to new market conditions and rapidly adapt to capture new emerging opportunities that will reignite growth levels.

“It is becoming increasingly imperative that takaful players in the Middle East get to grips with managing the challenges of an increasingly competitive takaful market, drive operational efficiencies and financial performance improvement in their business, and successfully shift to sound sustainable underwriting profitability – to build the capacity, capability and scale to profitably compete,” McLean added.

Please note that takaful refers to: A type of Islamic insurance, where members contribute money into a pooling system in order to guarantee each other against loss or damage. Takaful-branded insurance is based on Sharia, Islamic religious law, and explains how it is the responsibility of individuals to cooperate and protect each other. Takaful insurance companies were introduced as an alternative to commercial insurance companies, which go against the riba (interest), al-maisir (gambling), and al-gharar (uncertainty) principles, that are outlawed in Sharia. (Definition taken from http://www.investopedia.com/)