Legal & General Gulf Takaful Mulls Malaysia Ops

From Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar MANAMA, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- Legal & General Gulf Takaful, a unit of Legal and General Gulf, may set up business operations in Malaysia at some point to meet the growing demand for takaful products, its managing director Manfred Maske said. "Our first stage of growth is to establish in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and once we have that we will take out our expertise broader and for sure a market like Malaysia is on that list," he told Bernama in an interview here on Wednesday. The company is participating at the three-day Annual World Islamic Banking Conference from Nov 21. Land & General Gulf Takaful is a joint venture insurance company formed in 2009 between Legal & General Group and Ahli United Bank. Focusing on family takaful, its vision is to be the first choice for protection and savings in the Middle East. Maske said the company, which began operations in the middle of this year, is targeting a total weighted takaful contribution of US$25 million from its Bahrain operations and a smaller part from Kuwait. He said the GCC market, particularly Bahrain, continues to experience good growth. "We are still very optimistic. The opportunity has not changed despite the recent economic and political situation but people's needs are still the same, they are seeking protection products. "In fact we have seen an increased appetite for our products. GCC is a very untapped region. I am very optimistic our flagship will continue to do very well in the coming years," Maske said. Established in 1836, UK-based Legal & General Group has invested £370 billion as at Dec 31, 2009. -- BERNAMA Malaysia