“ICMIF is firmly committed to supporting the development of Takaful schemes in Muslim and Non-Muslim countries at all levels of society.”

In October 2002, the ICMIF Board of Directors approved the notion that the principles of takaful are in line with the cooperative and mutual philosophy. The Board recommended ICMIF should support the development of the takaful sector and increase awareness of the cooperative and mutual form.

In addition, the board noted that the modern form of takaful encompassed several types of structures reflecting the various schools of thought, regulations and environment. The most prominent takaful model in existence today is a hybrid of the mutual and stock company. Subsequently the Board agreed to review membership applications from takaful companies on a case by case basis with emphasis on the management philosophy and focus on policyholder welfare.

The raison d’etre of ICMIF is to serve members’ needs and in this respect it is the responsibility of the Secretariat to assist members in whatever capacity they require. The following are some of the specific benefits and services available from joining the Federation:

• To be part of a global network of insurance companies from various backgrounds, sectors and of different sizes.
• The ICMIF Shared Intelligence unit encourages building relationships between member organisations to enable closer collaboration and exchange of information and expertise.
• The Shared Intelligence Unit also runs a number of member-only networks bringing together insurance professionals from different fields of expertise. Current networks include Communications, Investments, Technology, Corporate Governance, Development, Claims and Takaful.
• The proceedings and presentations from these network meetings are made available exclusively to ICMIF members on the ICMIF web site.
• ICMIF also produces research publications on key areas of member interest and expertise such as Call Centres, E-Commerce, Affinity Marketing, Healthcare, Social Reporting and Bancassurance.
• ICMIF has jointly developed a business simulation training tool, Agile. This is widely recognised as the most advanced technological training software in the insurance market today.
• Since its inception ICMIF has been facilitating reinsurance between member organisations.
• Every two years the ICMIF Meeting of Reinsurance Officials (MORO) is held for ICMIF members and reinsurers to facilitate closer relationship between member ceding companies and reinsurers.
• The development function of ICMIF was established in 1963, and since then ICMIF has actively been involved in establishing 25 cooperative and mutual insurance companies around the world. The objectives of development is to improve access to insurance products for excluded sectors of society, ICMIF actively works with members, donors and governments to establish such schemes.
• Every two years the ICMIF Biennial conference is held, which brings together Chief Executives and Senior Managers from members and potential member companies to exchange information and ideas. The next conference will be hosted by ICMIF Member PPS in South Africa in 2013.
• ICMIF assists its members to find partners for cross-border projects and provide information and contacts for investments outside of their domestic markets.

Download ICMIF services brochure and application form.