Asean Takaful Group holds
9th Annual Conference in Sri Lanka

The Asean Takaful Group’s (ATG) 9th Annual Conference will be held on October 6 and 7, 2003 at the Hotel Galadari. Delegates from seven - member countries representing 16 Takaful companies will participate.

The 16-member body today shares a quarter of the world Takaful market, with Malaysia holding the larger slice. Since formation of the group, the Takaful concept has been promoted to areas beyond the region including Sri Lanka.

One of the main areas of focus is the formation of the ATG Pool, which will strengthen the risk-sharing mechanism of the Takaful Operator. This would pave the way for a bond between the member companies and ensure that the businesses are retained within the ambit of the Takaful concept. At present Asean Retakaful International (L) Ltd., (ARIL), which was formed in 1997, spearheads the retakaful market.

The previous conference was held in Indonesia at which the emphasis was made on strengthening solidarity and brother hood in ATG. The idea of the ATG pool was mooted at this conference. The 9th conference will for the first time be held outside the ASEAN region. Although Sri Lanka does not fall within the ASEAN region, Amana Takaful Limited was invited to join the membership in 1999, in view of the strength and growth of Takaful.

The conference this year will be on the theme "Takaful — paving the way for sustainable economic growth through ATG." The concept of takaful is based on mutual assistance where resources are pooled to help one another during a loss or at the time of need. The important factor, is that these resources are identified as belonging to the participants and to whom excess funds should be returned at the end of the period if they have not claimed. Hence, Takaful addresses the cost factor by effectively reducing the expenditure incurred on risks.