The CEO of Kenya's Pan Africa Life Assurance, Tom Gitoho has told The Islamic Globe his firm is on the verge of bringing life Takaful to the country.
Pan Africa and Cannon Assurance, a composite insurance company in Kenya, are adding life Takaful to their portfolios later this year as part of the private sector's drive to be the hub of Islamic finance in East Africa.
"We are obviously looking at it as it is an area we cannot ignore given the size of this emerging market," Gitoho said, "but we want to do it well and are therefore not going to rush in," he added.
Cannon Assurance has already introduced general Takaful in partnership with First Community Bank, one of Kenya's two fully Shari'ah compliant banks. A company official told The Globe that the life Takaful product "is being reviewed" by the Islamic scholars for approval and will be introduced to the market before the end of this year. Kenya does not yet have life Takaful products with the country's Takaful Insurance of Africa offering only general and medical insurance products.
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© Press Release 2011
