The takaful penetration rate in the country increased to 18.6% in 2021, up from 16.9% the year before, according to the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA).
This increase was the highest growth over a five-year period, whereby the ratio of the number of family takaful in-force certificates to the total Malaysian population grew to 6.07 million certificates in 2021 versus 5.51 million in 2020, said MTA Chairman Elmie Aman Najas.
“The family takaful market has shown an exceptionally strong resilience despite the pandemic, with annual takaful contributions of new businesses breaching the two-billion-ringgit mark for the first time, recording RM2.23 billion (US$513 million), an increase of 48.8%, compared to RM1.5 billion in 2020.
“Overall, the family takaful new business industry registered RM8.5 billion in gross contributions, a 29.7% increase from RM6.59 billion in 2020,” he said during the industry's 2021 performance presentation prior to an Iftar event with the media recently.
At the same time, a total of 1,135,189 new business certificates were issued in 2021, a 35.2% increase from the 839,355 certificates in 2020, while total business in-force gross contribution was RM7.42 billion in 2021, up from RM6.12 billion in 2020, he said.
In 2021, general takaful business registered gross written contributions of RM3.83 billion, with motor takaful business posting RM2.54 billion, while fire takaful business recorded RM0.69 billion, said Mr Elmie, who is also CEO for AIA Public Takaful Bhd. These results represented increases of 10.6%, 11.2% and 10.3% respectively from their performances in 2020, he said.
Agents and bancatakaful were the main distribution channels contributing 60.6% and 14.2% of businesses, respectively.
For new businesses, agents recorded 85.7% as the main distribution channel for "annual contribution" takaful plans, while bancatakaful was the main contributor for "single contribution" plans at 52.4%, according to The Edge Markets.