Solidarity, one of the largest takaful companies in the world, has announced a major corporate restructuring, including the creation of a new Solidarity Group to oversee and support its various subsidiaries and affiliates.

A successful private placement offering to selective investors allowed the company to increase its paid-up capital from $150 million to $220 million, with the authorised capital standing at $500 million, said a top company official.

'This has paved the way for the creation of two new entities, Solidarity Family Takaful Company and Solidarity General Takaful Company, both falling under the umbrella of a new Solidarity Group,' Solidarity Group chairman Khalid Abdulla-Janahi told mediapersons on the sidelines of the 27th General Arab Insurance Federation (Gaif) at the Gulf Hotel in Manama.

Solidarity Family Takaful and Solidarity General Takaful grew out of two existing business units within the former structure of Solidarity.

The effort aims to strengthen Solidarity’s position as a leader in providing insurance solutions globally and enable further strategic alliances, better performance accountability and higher efficiency, as well a more defined specialisation of business lines.

“The restructuring, which turns Solidarity’s two main business units into two distinct but inter-connected companies, will allow each to tailor-make their development plans to suit their individual needs. They will, however, maintain similar long-term strategic objectives, to ensure cohesiveness and to benefit from the economies of scale which comes from being part of Solidarity Group,” Abdulla-Janahi observed.

Ashraf Bseisu has been appointed the new deputy CEO for Solidarity Group. The new Solidarity group structure will be effective from March 2.

'Ashraf, since joining Solidarity in 2006, has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and dedication, as well as innovation within the Insurance and financial services field. We look forward to Solidarity Group’s continuing growth within the industry, and wish Ashraf the best of luck in his new role,” Janahi added. 

Solidarity Group will also remain an integral part of the Ithmaar banking group, one of the most dynamic financial services providers in the Middle East, he added.

Solidarity Group CEO, Sameer Al Wazzan said: “Solidarity was established with the vision of becoming a leading global Islamic-oriented financial services group generating superior returns to shareholders.

Its mission is to provide a range of Sharia compliant protection, savings and investment products with quality customer service”.

“Our current plans for further growth are focused on the provision of innovative and competitive financial solutions through geographical expansion and strategic partnerships. This restructuring will streamline our operations, allowing for better segregation of business lines and making it easier for us to achieve our corporate objectives with integrity and transparency,” he said.

Also present at the event were Solidarity Group newly appointed Deputy CEO Ashraf Bseisu, Solidarity Family Takaful General Manager, Gopi Rao and Solidarity General Takaful General Manager, Gautam Datta.-TradeArabia News Service