Takaful Nasional Sdn Bhd targets US$75 million (RM262.5 million) of new business premiums from its offshore takaful products in its current financial year ending June 30, 2007, its chief executive officer Mohd Tarmidzi Ahmad Nordin said.
In line with this, the company had set an International Currency Business Unit (ICBU) to market its offshore products targeting at foreign clients such as those from the Middle East with an appetite for syariah-compliant financial solutions, he said.
“People in the Middle East sees Malaysia as a well-established Islamic financial player and we want to capitalise on it,” Tarmidzi told reporters at the launch of ICBU in Kuala Lumpur on March 2.

Takaful Nasional is a unit of Mayban Fortis Holdings Bhd, which is a subsidiary of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank).
Under ICBU, Takaful Nasional would offer its family and general takaful products and services through Maybank’s network and third party institutions. Its offshore takaful products would be denominated in either the US dollar or Euro.
“The products and services offered by the ICBU to the international customers will initially, be similar to what is being offered locally, however with stronger focus on investment-linked takaful products,” Tardmizi said.
Subsequently, more individually tailored products would be introduced to fulfill the different and acquired needs of high net worth customers with syariah appetite, he added.
According to Mayban Fortis head of offshore business Eduard Holtz, Takaful Nasional is the world’s first offshore provider of takaful investment-linked products.
These offshore takaful products would cater for the needs of foreign clients who want to diversify their portfolio of Islamic financial products, he said, adding that the liquidity from the Middle East amounted to US$1 trillion.
Following Bank Negara Malaysia’s recent initiative to make Malaysia an international Islamic financial centre, offshore Islamic financial products can be offered from any place in Malaysia.
Prior to this, foreign currency denominated products could only be offered from Labuan.