One of Saudi Arabia’s largest insurance company, Al-Etihad Cooperative Insurance Company (Al Etihad), with a paid-up capital of SAR 400 million, announced the assignment of Shariyah Review Bureau, which provides an array of Sharia certification and Sharia audit services to the insurance, banking asset management industries.
The new assignment enables Al Etihad to focus its resources and expertise on the rapidly-growing Sharia compliant insurance sector of the Kingdom. “We continue to witness exceptional opportunities in all classes of insurance with new players across broadening business areas of the Kingdom’s geographical exposure,” says Hussam Abdul Aziz Al Kannas, Chief Executive Officer at Al Ethiad. “Our clients are rapidly transitioning into national players in the Kingdom and Sharia compliance is of paramount importance to our customer base.” “This is the right time to invest in Sharia supervisory infrastructure to address the challenges posed by this dynamic growth,” he adds. ” That’s why we have decided to tie-up with the country’s leading Sharia Advisory firm to ensure we are hundred percent focused on delivering cooperative insurance solutions in compliance with Sharia.”
“The focus on Sharia compliance is a great opportunity to accelerate the growth of our insurance business,” noted Ahmad Omar, Chief Financial Officer at Al Etihad. “We understand how to build and maintain all classes of insurance policies but can benefit from a strategic partner that can help navigate our developments in light of Sharia principles. SRB has a lot of experience in the cooperative insurance and Takaful sector and can really help us successfully pursue our ambitious goals.”
Whether a company requires product based certifications, full Sharia Board service, on premise Sharia audit solution, or simply wishes to outsource the Sharia compliance management and hosting of their entire review, certification, consultation and Sharia audit functions; Shariyah Review Bureau’s services are designed to accommodate any of these scenarios. Furthermore, leveraging SRB’s scholarly network covering 19 countries, companies gain extensive insight in scholarly resources, ensuring they have the important information on Sharia design and practices when they need it.
“More and more institutions are outsourcing their Sharia Board and Sharia audit processes to us as it helps them lower costs, improve performances and focus on core business competencies,” said Yasser S. Dahlawi, CEO at SRB. “This is because our services are designed to offer greater budget flexibility without any compromise on quality while mitigating the shortage of skill and Sharia expertise in the relevant domain.” Yasser added: “We are delighted to be working with Al Etihad and to help lead their insurance development effort in the Kingdom. We look forward to developing as well as strengthening the Sharia compliance make-up of their products, investments and systems.”
