AIG ENTERS ISLAMIC INSURANCE MARKET

American International Group ( AIG) has launched its first foray into the lucrative Islamic insurance, or takaful, market. The insurer’s Enaya unit will initially offer coverage for health, motor and property insurance to its Gulf Arab customers before expanding the policies to the Asia market. Eventually AIG could offer its takaful program to Muslim customers in the US, said Charles Bouloux, AIG president for the Middle East, Mediterranean and South East Asia. The takaful market is currently worth $2bn and it is estimated that it is growing at 20% each year and could be worth as much as $15bn by 2015. “With the boom in Islamic finance and insurance in the region, there is an inherent need for sharia-compliant products,” says Abdallah Kubursi, vice president of AIG’s Enaya unit.