A Study on the Efficiency of General Takaful Operators in Malaysia: Post Implementation of IFSA 2013

Abstract

This study aims to measure the efficiency of the general Takaful operators in Malaysia with the selected inputs, labour cost and management fees. On the other hand, the output used is gross contribution. General Takaful operators are the institutions governed by the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA). IFSA 2013 is the key statute governing the Islamic finance sector, which replaced statutes such as the Islamic Banking Act 1983 and the Takaful Act 1984. Based on the annual data gathered from 2014 to 2018 (post implementation of IFSA 2013), the efficiency is analysed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) on four selected institutions in the general Takaful business. DEA results show that Etiqa General Takaful Berhad, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Am Berhad are considered as the most efficient. The rest of general takaful operators in the sample were deemed technical inefficient. The results also indicate that inefficient institutions including those with the lowest performance which are Takaful Ikhlas General Berhad and Zurich General Takaful Malaysia Berhad have inefficient management in resource utilisation. In conclusion, the findings have confirmed the market share theory and infer to the expense-preference behaviour on the part of the general Takaful operator. Perhaps, the general Takaful operators are posed with an expedient manner trying to satisfy their own benefits. In order to achieve full efficiency, any Takaful operators have to increase its market share segments by increasing its gross income and contribution through developing demand for general Takaful products and mostly on takaful product itself.