06/07/2026

MONDAY | JULY 6, 2026

10

BANKING & INSURANCE

Local takaful industry shows resilience o Operators honoured RM10.6b in benefits last year, providing critical support to households and reinforcing role as social safety net

operates, the Moving You Forward campaign serves as a unified CIMB brand movement aligning purpose, culture and customer under a shared thematic direction. CIMB Group chief brand and marketing officer Toni Darusman said, “At CIMB, there is a clear vision that guides everything we do, and that is to be the bank that advances the ambitions of people across Asean. Our ambition goes beyond banking alone; it is rooted in the belief that real, meaningful progress happens when business and society move forward together. “Moving You Forward reflects how we are bringing our purpose of advancing customers and society to life in a more meaningful and impactful way.” “Moving You Forward will be rolled out in phases across social media, digital out-of-home and out of-home across key regional markets, including a brand film, installation of wall art at Mass Rapid Transit stations, on-ground and social activation. “This year, we aim to achieving the 80% milestone for Hijrah27. Key focus areas are takaful awareness and talent development, heavily supported by our new collaborations with the Financial Industry Collective Out reach, the Asian Institute of Insurance and the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals,” he continued. Looking ahead, the MTA has outlined three priorities for 2026 – ensuring sustainable medical and health Insurance and takaful coverage, strengthening the adoption of hibah as a wealth protection solution, and advancing the phased liberalisation of the general takaful segment while preserving industry stability. online platforms continued their gradual adoption at 8.45% and 6.73% respectively (2024: 7.64% and 6.58%). MTA interim chairman Borhanudin Samsudin said, “Our mandate is to ensure takaful remains available, accessible and resilient through value based intermediation. As our industry base grows larger, maintaining growth naturally becomes more complex. Therefore, our focus is shifting towards sustaining and creating a takaful ecosystem that evolves alongside the changing, more challenging economic realities of Malaysia’s communities. “Our goal is to extend protection to underserved communities and ensure every Malaysian has access to a reliable and inclusive social safety net. On this note, I am pleased to report that our industry-wide ini tiatives to strengthen the takaful industry are progressing steadily, with more than 60% of Hijrah27 targets achieved as of 2025. Moving forward, the expansion of programmes such as the iTekad Protection Programme will be crucial in supporting vulnerable segments, including microentrepreneurs and participants of Inisiatif Pendapatan Rakyat .”

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian takaful industry continued to demonstrate resilience in 2025, delivering a steady performance and reinforcing its integral role in safeguarding financial stability for the rakyat . Reflecting a stabilising post Covid-19 pandemic trajectory and a significantly expanded base, the industry grew by 4.73% in 2025, bringing total gross contributions to RM16.38 billion, according to the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA). On the back of this steady perfor mance, takaful operators collectively distributed RM10.61 billion in benefits to certificate holders in 2025, underlining the core spirit of takaful as a dependable cushion when Malaysians most require it. Payout quantum continued to be led by family takaful at RM7.91 billion, with medical claims repre senting the largest class of payouts. This was slightly higher than RM7.89 billion disbursed in the prior year, underscoring its continued importance as a social safety measure. General takaful meanwhile honoured RM2.7 billion in claims, a 16.88% increase from RM2.31 billion in 2024 as motor claims continued to constitute the largest share of payout. Beyond financial protection, the takaful industry continued to create shared value through RM52.25 million in zakat contributions for community development initiatives and RM1.3 billion in surplus to eligible participants in 2025. These efforts reflect the core takaful

principles of mutual cooperation, fairness and shared responsibility. As part of its efforts to help more Malaysians understand and benefit from takaful’s unique value propo sitions, the MTA continued its nationwide outreach initiatives under the Takaful4All and Hijrah27 strategic agendas. More than 120,000 Malaysians across urban, rural and underserved communities were reached through community engagements, financial literacy programmes, campus acti vations and strategic collaborations, promoting greater financial resi lience and expanding access to takaful protection. During the year, 861,956 new family takaful certificates were issued, bringing the total to 6.74 million in force certificates after accounting for natural maturities, expiries, replace ments and terminations. In terms of contributions, family takaful new business contributions recorded a flat but stable perfor mance at RM9.74 billion in 2025, up by RM10 million from the prior year. Meanwhile, business in-force contri butions expanded to RM10.15 billion from 2024’s RM9.62 billion, largely sustained by endowment products within the Individual Ordinary Family Business segment. Overall, the family takaful seg ment maintained its solid position in the broader protection landscape, with its new business contributions edging up slightly to 39.44% from 39.16% in 2024. The segment’s resilient perfor

Borhanudin (left) and MTA CEO Mohd Radzuan Mohamed displaying the report on the takaful industry’s performance in 2025.

mance points to strengthening contri bution quality and consumer confidence in syariah-compliant protection solutions. The 15.34% increase in average case size to RM11,300 from RM9,797 attests to this, indicating that past industry outreach is are translating into higher-quality, long-term protection commitments rather just volume growth. These gains are partly attributable to collective industry efforts to engage Malaysians, allowing the family takaful penetration rate to hold steady at 19.63% in 2025 (2024: 19.57%), even as Malaysia’s popu lation expanded to 34.33 million (2024: 34.1 million). The general takaful segment continued its positive trajectory in 2025, with gross written contri butions increasing 12.38% to RM6.64 billion from RM5.91 billion in 2024. The segment’s performance con tinued to be driven by motor takaful, which remained the largest com ponent at about 69% of gross written

contributions (RM4.59 billion). This marked a 12.57% expansion, closely mirroring the tail-end of Malaysia’s record new vehicle sales, which peaked at 820,752 units. Accordingly, motor claims proportionately made up the vast majority of general takaful claims paid. A total of RM2.4 billion was disbursed by takaful operators for motor claims, accounting for 88.97% of total net claims. The non-motor takaful businesses also expanded in 2025, rising 11.95%. Fire takaful recorded RM1.11 billion in gross written contributions, an increase of 10.43% over 2024, while personal accident takaful rose to RM422.67 million, translating into an 8.93% increase. In terms of distribution channels, agency remained dominant in 2025, accounting for 61.5% of written contributions (2024: 62.67%). Banca takaful remained the second largest contributor at 13.37% (2024: 13.63%) while direct business channels and PETALING JAYA: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd has unveiled its new brand campaign, Moving You Forward, to reinforce the its commitment to enable ustomers, businesses and communities across Asean. Anchored on CIMB’s core purpose of advancing customers and society, Moving You Forward marks the next evolution of the group’s brand journey. The movement reflects CIMB’s commitment to enabling customers with access and opportunities so that they can progress in confidence to achieve their goals. It is grounded in CIMB’s belief that progress is deeply personal and that the true value of banking lies in what it enables, whether it is helping businesses expand, families build financial security, individuals pursue their ambitions or communities create new opportunities. CIMB aims to play a more active role in helping customers achieve meaningful outcomes and long-term success. Across all markets where CIMB

OCBC Malaysia wins multiple awards for sustainable financing

CIMB unveils ‘Moving You Forward’ drive, honours Asean change makers

PETALING JAYA: OCBC Malaysia, comprising OCBC Bank (Malaysia)

OCBC Malaysia was named Syndicated Loan House of the Year – Malaysia at the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) Awards 2026. OCBC Malaysia managing director, senior banker and head of investment banking Tan Ai Chin ( pic ) said, “We are honoured to be recognised by leading industry publications and associations for our continued leadership in delivering impactful financing solutions, particularly in project finance and loan syndication, green financing and sustainable infrastructure de velopment.” OCBC Malaysia remains com mitted to mobilising capital towards transformative projects and busin esses that enable clients to achieve their growth ambitions while creating long-term value and contributing meaningfully to the country’s sustainable economic development, she added.

Fuel Deal of the Year for its role in the construction financing facility for the Pengerang Bio refinery, a joint venture between

Bhd and Islamic bank ing subsidiary OCBC Al Amin Bank Bhd, has cemented its position as a leading sustainable finance partner, by se curing a series of presti gious regional and international accolades. At the Asset Triple A Sustainable Infrastruc ture Finance Awards 2026, OCBC Malaysia clinched the Project Finance Deal of the Year for its pivotal role in the RM7.5 billion Murabaha

Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Enilive SpA and Euglena Co Ltd, sup porting the develop ment of a new bio refinery project in Pengerang, Johor. At the Banking & Finance Corporate & Investment Banking Awards 2025, the bank was named Green Deal of the Year – Malaysia for its role

Banking & Finance in a landmark financing transaction involving Permodalan Nasional Bhd, underscoring OCBC Malaysia’s com mitment to advance impactful green and transition financing initiatives for government-linked companies and investment entities.

term facility and US$1.7 billion (RM6.95 billion) offshore term loan facility for DayOne Data Centres, one of the largest digital infrastructure financing transactions in Malaysia’s history. The bank also won the Transition

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