Despite this impressive industry growth there remains much to do in terms of improving market awareness and education. To assist in this objective,Islamic Finance Training has developed a 3-day intensive training program focusing on the understanding, development and marketing of Takaful Products. The course is conducted by renowned industry expert Dr. Omar Fisher.

This training program is designed to be taken in conjunction with our comprehensive publication Takaful Markets & Products: A Training & Reference Manual. This is a training resource designed for use within your organization. Through the course and the manual, you will be equipped to return to your organization with readily transferable skills and expertise in order to pass on vital knowledge to your colleagues. Each session will be presented with the transfer of knowledge in mind – topics will be discussed and at the end of each session. You will be able to pass on what you have learnt through the use of the training and reference manual.

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Who should attend

• Takaful operations staff
• Fund & asset managers
• Actuaries
• Risk management professionals
• Support staff including accountants and back office
• Consultants
• Training & development staff

• Understand the latest developments in Takaful products and markets
• Learn from highly-respected industry expert, Dr. Omar Fisher
• Be introduced to the unique resource: Takaful Markets & Products: A Training & Reference Manual
• Take away key skills in the development of internal training courses for Takaful professionals

COURSE AGENDA

Day One

Welcome and Coffee

Aim & Objectives of the Program

• An introduction to Takaful Markets & Products: A Training & Reference Manual
• Using the manual within your organisation: teaching and learning outcomes

Introduction to Takaful

• Insurance and Islam: a brief history
• Major goals of the Takaful system
• What is risk?
• Characteristics of Islamic financial contracts
• Shariah as applied to insurance

Takaful versus Conventional Insurance

• The issues of riba, gharar and maysir
• Legal issues
• Modes of operation and investment

Risk and Risk Management

• The nature of risk: definitions
• Identification of insurable risks
• Risk management process and Takaful

Takaful Operations – Models

• Models for-profit/non-profit
• The Wakalah model
• The Mudarabah model
• Hybrid models

Sources of Income

Takaful Products

• Overview of general and family Takaful products
• Establishing objectives of insurance policies
• Non-life insurance with Takaful
• Life insurance with Takaful
• Pooling of funds
• Innovation of Takaful products
• Are Takaful products debt or equity?

Day Two

Case Study

Choose a Takaful Model & Set Up

Operations

• Operations: customer service and claims
• Underwriting considerations
• Finance and capitalization of Takaful business sales

Marketing Concepts

• Effective sales presentations
• Example presentation - group work

Accounting Treatment for Takaful

• Issues for Takaful accounting versus conventional insurance
• Accounting treatment flow
• Internal structure of Takaful funds
• Distribution of funds to stakeholders

Investment of Premiums

• Principles of Islamic investments and the constraints of Shariah
• Islamic investment goals and asset allocation
  Illustration of how to structure an Islamic investment portfolio

ReTakaful, Reinsurance and BancaTakaful

• Overview of reTakaful
• Challenges to reTakaful
• Potential of bancaTakaful

Case Study

Examining the Basis of Competition

• Business model & regulation: flexibility
• Product lines
• Market and client segmentation
• Value proposition (to be developed by participants)
• Distribution channels – advantages and disadvantages of each type
• Major issues of rating agencies
• Reinsurance versus re-Takaful

Day Three

Global Takaful Profile

• Demand forecasts
• Major industry trends
  • Where is the market? Southeast Asia and GCC
    
• Challenges to Takaful
  • Education and market penetration
  • Shariah rulings
  • Commercial issues

Resources & Associations

Group Work:

Case Study: participants will break into study teams to review the case study and will collaborate to prepare a business analysis and a group team presentation. At the conclusion of this session, each team will choose a presenter who will report on their group’s findings and evaluation of the case.

Choose a Product & Prepare Sales Presentation: participants will break into study teams to review the product selected and develop features, benefi ts, pricing and other aspects commonly related to that product. At the conclusion of this session, each team will choose a presenter who will report on their group’s fi ndings and explain how their product will be manufactured by the Takaful company, implemented and sold to clients.

Course Wrap Up and Evaluation

Each delegate will receive a complimentary copy of Takaful Markets & Products: A Training & Reference Manual, written by Dr. Omar Fisher and published by REDmoney books. The manual is available for purchase in order to facilitate internal training at your organization.

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EXPERT COURSE DIRECTOR

Dr. Omar Clark Fisher’s financial services experience is broad and spans international project finance, Islamic leasing, political risk guaranties and Takaful.

Dr. Fisher pioneered the Life Takaful business while working as Divisional Head for Bank Al-Jazira in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Fisher also founded and launched several of his own ventures, including First Takaful U.S.A., the first general property Takaful program in the United States; KCC, which specialized in Islamic project finance, leasing and venture capital; and BMIL, the first Islamic leasing business catering to Muslim doctors and professionals. He authored the recently published Takaful Markets & Products: A Training & Resources Manual (REDmoney books, 2008) as well as an Islamic Wealth Guide: Wealth Building, Risk Management and Wealth Distribution in accordance with Islamic Shariah (2007).

Dr. Fisher is a graduate of Yale University and holds an MEd from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and a Masters of Science in Management (MSM) from ADL School of Management in the U.S. He is a Takaful advisor to the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (Bahrain) and the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (U.K.).

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DATES & PRICE

Discounts

• Why not take advantage of our special group booking incentive and train a number of your team members at once?  Send 3 delegates to any one course and receive a fourth place completely free of charge.  Further incentives are also available for higher delegate numbers – please contact us directly for more details.

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