Pru Life UK eyes 2.5 M Muslim Filipinos as market for Takaful

Pru Life UK is setting its sights on the 2.5 million Muslim Filipinos who have the capacity to pay for insurance, as the insurance company moves to expand its reach in the underserved Islamic finance segment through its newly launched Takaful product.

- By KEISHA TA-ASAN

The figure came from a study commissioned by Pru Life UK, which found that only 2.5 million out of the Philippines' estimated seven million Muslims can afford insurance or its Shari'ah-compliant counterpart.

"This is the base market we are looking at for Takaful in the Philippines," Pru Life UK vice president for sustainability Maricel Estavillo said.

"But our target for the first year is not just to sell the product but to raise awareness and understanding of Takaful as part of supporting the government's objective of promoting Islamic finance," she said.

Earlier in June, the insurer launched its maiden Takaful product Lindungi under the Insurance Commission's "Takaful window" framework.

Lindungi is a one-year term product that provides P100,000 in benefits, designed to be simple and accessible to encourage mass adoption.