Uganda: Parliament set to pass Bill enabling takaful
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jan 2017
The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) is now awaiting the Ugandan Parliament to pass a Bill that proposes to amend the Insurance Act that would cater for Islamic insurance.
Mr Sande Protazio, Assistant Director of Research at the IRA said: “We’re in the process of overhauling the Insurance Act so that Islamic insurance can be operationalised.
“Currently, it is at the committee stage in Parliament.”
At the start of 2016, President Yoweri Museveni assented to the amendment of the Financial Institutions Act (2014) that caters for Islamic banking. Shariah-compliant banking products will require some sort of insurance cover, reported AllAfrica.com.
In the proposed amendments to the Insurance Act, insurers intending to offer Islamic insurance have to separate their assets, liabilities and expenses among other measures.
At a dinner organised by the Insurance Institute of Uganda in Kampala in July, IRA CEO Ibrahim Lubega Kaddunabbi said that the authority’s move to consider other types of insurance will create more options for customers, boost competition and lead to improved service delivery. He noted that a number of Ugandans are not interested in conventional banking and insurance.
The move to introduce legislation for takaful is also seen as a bid to turn around the local insurance industry.