KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Takaful industry continued its upward trend in promoting and enabling more Malaysians to obtain new Family Takaful protection despite challenges during the year. For the nine months ended 30 Sept 2020, Family Takaful New Protection Value of RM 364.2 billion arising from RM 4.84 billion New Business Contribution were registered. The New Protection Value and New Business Contribution increased 14 % and 3.2% respectively compared to the figures in the corresponding period last year.

“This encouraging decent growth is evidence of the positive effects from re-opening of the economy from COVID-19 especially during the third quarter of 2020. The industry will also continue to promote Takaful digitally and continue to play its role in providing protection to Malaysians” said the Chairman of the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), Encik Muhammad Fikri Mohamad Rawi, today.

He added that the positive growth of the takaful industry also reflected the increasing awareness of the importance of protection among Malaysians, particularly during this pandemic period. Takaful operators have; more than ever, actively used the digital platform to promote Takaful awareness.

“This is the second year the Association is promoting Takaful awareness through social media. The targeted segment of the campaign is youth aged between 25 to 45 years old. We aim to educate the public on the essence of Takaful, the importance of protection and to share some affordable plans available in the market.” said Fikri.

“There were several webinars held in collaboration with various organisations such as Institut Jantung Negara and Bank Negara Malaysia to create Takaful awareness. Thankfully, the responses were very encouraging as Malaysians are able to acclimatise with the new norm to access information about Takaful” he added.

As a whole, the takaful industry added 573,718 new certificates, a marked single digit increase of 7.2% from 535,426 new certificates issued during the same period in 2019. Furthermore, the Annual Contribution New Business figures grew moderately by 6.7% to RM 0.99 Billion for the nine months period ended 30 Sept 2020 compared to figures of the corresponding period last year, while the Single Contribution New Business has increased slightly by 2.4.% to RM 3.86 Billion.

The total Family Takaful business’ in-force sum covered grew by 12.3% or RM1.06 trillion for the nine months period of 2020 compared to corresponding period last year]. There was a moderate growth of 5.2% or 5.36 million certificates of in-force business. This resulted in improvements to the penetration rate, a ratio of the number of Family Takaful in-force certificates to the total Malaysian population, which increased to 16.4% as compared to 15.7% for the same period in 2019.

The General Takaful Industry has also registered a decent growth of 3.6% with total gross contributions of RM 2.57 billion as compared to RM 2.48 billion in the same period 2019. Motor Takaful remained the largest class of business with a proportion of 65.3%.

Fire Takaful maintained its position as the second largest class of business with a gross contribution of RM 0.45 billion, denoting a slight increase of 3.2%. Other classes of business also recorded a slight increase of 1.5% to RM0.447 billion as compared to RM0.437 billion in 2019. In terms of market segment, Tariff products still dominated the General Takaful business.

In terms of claims paid, the Net Claims Incurred Ratio (NCIR) increased to 57% from 55.6% in same period 2019.  For motor, the industry’s NCIR increased to 71.4% from 68.9% over the same period in 2019.

Outlook 2021

In the recent 2021 Budget tabled by the Government, the Association (MTA) felt extremely grateful to the Government for approving incentives for the Rakyat. These incentives are very important to sustain the livelihood of the Rakyat, as well as to improve their quality of life, especially among the B40 and M40 segments of the society. The industry will collaborate further with the Ministry of Finance and the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) towards this purpose.

As part of the industry’s further efforts towards ensuring every strata of society are aware of the importance and benefits of having Takaful/Insurance coverage, Perlindungan Tenang is currently offered by four MTA member companies and are based on the premise of three basic criterias; Affordable, Accessible and Simple. Through the basic protection provided under the Perlindungan Tenang initiative, all Malaysians can now protect themselves and their families (against key risks in life) with premiums/contribution from as low as a few ringgit per month.

With private consumption forecasted to be resilient, coupled with the still low Takaful penetration rate of 16.4%, the Association projects the outlook and prospect of the takaful sector to remain moderate but positive in 2021.

About Malaysian Takaful Association
Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) was established on November 2002 under the Societies Act 1966. It is a trade association representing all 18 licensed Takaful and Retakaful operators in the country.  The objectives and the powers of MTA are to promote the interests of its members and to lead and supervise the exercise of self-regulation within the Takaful industry.

SOURCE: Malaysian Takaful Association

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Puan Siti Nor Kamariah
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel       : +603-2031 8160 / +011-23023164
Fax      : +603-2031 8170
Email  : mtasecretariat@malaysiantakaful.com.my

--BERNAMA