Takaful Ikhlas Targets RM500 Mln Premiums

(Bernama) -- Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Main Board-listed MNRB Holdings Bhd, is targeting RM500 million in premiums for the 2008/2009 financial year.

Its chairman Sharkawi Alis said the target was achievable based on the company's performance over the past five years with its unique products.

Sharkawi said for its 2007/2008 financial year which ended March 31, 2008, Takaful Ikhlas collected RM428 million in premiums, exceeding its target by RM108 million.

"Our earlier target at the start of the current financial year was only RM320 million," he said at the opening of the company's Sabah office at Kompleks Asia City here today.

Takaful Ikhlas now has about 600,000 customers nationwide with 4,500 agents and it planned to raise the number to 6,000 agents by end of this year, an increase of 33 percent, Sharkawi said.

He said the company currently has 77 products under the general and family categories, and was capable of developing alternative products to compete with conventional insurance companies.

Takaful Ikhlas' president and executive director Syed Moheed Syed Kamarulzaman said prospects for the company to expand in Sabah were bright.

He said generally the takaful industry was now expanding three times faster compared to the conventional insurance industry.