Apologies for the lag in highlighting this but somehow it managed to slip through the cracks, here we include the Takaful Report compiled by Ernst & Young for both 2008 and 2009. These provide a good overview of what has got to be a crucial driver for Islamic finance - both at the retail/consumer level (i.e. Takaful policyholders and local market penetration) and at the institutional/investor level (i.e. when one considers that Takaful operators must allocate their entire portfolios/trusts into Shariah compliant instruments). Plenty of statistics to digest here, but the most intriguing statistics are the countries not yet reflected. For instance, Saudi Arabia claims top spot as the largest Takaful market in the ME region, but little mention is given to either Egypt or Turkey which have significant "dormant" industries; similarly Malaysia is the largest market in Southeast Asia but the opportunity set is vast when one considers Indonesia and India (two major Muslim countries by population) as untapped.
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