KUALA LUMPUR (17 Nov): The Malaysian Islamic finance industry can expect continued aggressive growth as activities in the sector will be ongoing, according to President of Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals (CIIF) Datuk Badlisyah Abdul Ghani when he spoke to reporters this morning, prior to the start of Takaful Seminar 2016 entitled 'Critical predicaments faced by Takaful operators' today.

"We have all the necessary infrastructure and framework in place for the industry to continue growing in an aggressive way," he said.

Badlisyah added that the industry has maintained a positive outlook and has been registering double digit growth for many years, despite some slowdown amid changes in financial regulatory framework imposed by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

"There was some slowdown as a result of the changes in regulations imposed by [BNM] with regards to hire purchase, personal financing [and] property financing, [but the growth] has picked up again, as people [adapt] to the new normal," Datuk Badlisyah added.

Meanwhile, according to Chief Executive Officer of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) Datuk Syed Moheeb Bin Syed Kamarulzaman, the Takaful sector registered a growth rate of 8% to 10% in 2015, and registered net contribution rates of about 12% to 13% between 2009 and 2014.

Syed further added that the Takaful sector's growth rate has always been better than the conventional sectors' growth rate, and that the sector's growth rate has exceeded that of the national gross domestic product's (GDP)'s growth rate, signifying positive outlook for the industry.

The MII and CIIF Takaful Seminar 2016 is the first collaboration between the MII and CIIF organisations which saw the gathering of close to a 100 insurance professionals speaking on their respective fields of expertise, in an attempt to address common issues and challenges faced by the Malaysian Takaful industry.