In 2006 Munich financial services company FWU Group stood out as clear winners of this award with its white-labelled products.
FWU has shown innovation and wide-reaching dominance in life and general insurance. In offering open investment architecture, FWU has a unique and successful business structure, which is supported by its strategic takaful product partners. These partners are Aman Insurance in Dubai, Al Safat in Kuwait and Takaful Ikhlas in Malaysia. Manfred Dirrheimer, FWU Group chairman, says: “The takaful market is poised to expand globally and the FWU Group’s international business model offers several competitive advantages to both our strategic product and bank distribution partners. Our market share looks set to expand.”
FWU focuses on the white label distribution of family takaful and unit-linked investment products sold through the internet. In 2006 the group developed a second generation of family takaful investment linked plans and a Shariah-compliant home financing scheme. The plan was developed for major bank distribution partners throughout the world. The product is customized to each distribution partner, which then aligns its pricing to local market conditions. ADCB, one distribution partner, sold 3,500 plans in six months, an aggregate sum of DH165 million ($46 million).