Fitch: Indonesia Offers Vast Potential for Takaful Products

Sharia insurance products have gained in prominence and are steadily securing a foothold in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country of more than 200 million. The large Muslim population offers vast, untapped potential for takaful products. However, total takaful insurance and reinsurance gross premiums have stayed low, compared with the entire Indonesian insurance market. Takaful has expanded to account for 6.2% of Indonesia's insurance market by gross written premiums (GWPs) as of end- 2015, from 2.6% as of end-2010. The sector's GWP expanded by around 4.1% to around IDR10.5trn in 2015, slower than the previous year amid a slowdown in the country's real GDP growth but outperforming the conventional insurance product segment that had more modest growth of 1.6%.