The Board of British Islamic Insurance Holdings (BIIH) announced that Bradley Brandon-Cross has been appointed as its Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Brandon-Cross has over 20 years experience within the UK and international insurance industry having held senior executive roles heading both UK domiciled and international operations covering both Life and General insurance. He also has extensive expertise of Business Process Outsourcing within the insurance industry having been CEO of an insurance services provider.
Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BIIH, Mr Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih said, “The Board is very excited to have such an experienced person to lead the Company into the next stage of the businesses’ development. Mr Brandon-Cross has an excellent career track record in both Life and General insurance industry in the UK domestic market and internationally. Bradley will bring energy, enthusiasm and sound judgement to the role and is well-equipped to provide strong leadership for the Company”.
Mr Brandon-Cross commented: “I am honoured by the Board’s appointment and grateful for this opportunity to serve as Chief Executive Officer of such an innovative and progressive company. I very much look forward to ensuring that we gain success for the Company and all of its stakeholders as quickly as possible.”
Prior to co-founding Rubicon, an insurance services provider, in December 2000, Mr Brandon-Cross was at GE Insurance, GE Capital’s primary insurance business in Europe and the Far East. He was first Head of the non-UK General Insurance business, initially encompassing the main European countries and later successfully opening offices in the Asia Pacific regional, notably Japan, Australia and the Philippines. Following this he was Managing Director of the UK General Insurance business which, at the time, was the UK’s tenth largest insurer and a market leader in specialist property and casualty insurance.
Mr Brandon-Cross joined GE when his former company, Consolidated Insurance, was acquired by GE Capital in 1994. At Consolidated, he headed up its business in continental Europe. Between 1988 and 1992, Mr Brandon-Cross was President of Consolidated’s North American business based in Wilmington in the State of Delaware and prior to going to the United States he worked in Consolidated’s UK operations as Head of Business Development.
BIIH submitted its regulatory application to the FSA in May and is working with the FSA to obtain a ‘Minded to Grant Permission’ notification, which the Company hopes to receive sometime during the second half of 2007. Following Mr. Brandon-Cross’s appointment, the Company is focused on identifying other members of its senior management team and on developing an operational plan to be ready to launch the business in a timely manner, subject to a favourable decision from the FSA.
This press release is directed solely at persons outside the United Kingdom and it must not be acted upon by persons in the United Kingdom.
BIIH, in an innovative move, will be the first company to offer Shari’a compliant insurance products to the British Muslim population from an FSA-authorised and regulated, stand alone Islamic insurance company. Following the formation of the company in 2006, £19 million (approximately $38 million) was raised from institutional and private investors in the Gulf Region who subscribed for shares in BIIH following a Private Placement which took place during the summer of 2006.
BIIH has a vision to become the Islamic insurance partner of choice for Muslims in the UK and Europe, following strong research which shows a substantial market potential for a Shari’a compliant insurance offer from a focused and trusted Islamic insurance provider. The business has also identified opportunities to use a Takaful based insurance solution for the fast growing ethical market.
The UK insurance industry is the largest in Europe and the third largest in the world after the USA and Japan. The UK’s annual per capita insurance spend is approximately £2,500 (US$5,000), which is the second highest in the world after Switzerland (as of 2005). Most people in the UK purchase some form of insurance and over 60% of households in the UK subscribe to home-related insurance, while more than 70% are covered for motor insurance. A comparison of the insurance penetration in the UK with that of the GCC region suggests that the UK’s per capita insurance premium in 2005 was 35 times more than that of the GCC region. In 2005, total general insurance premiums in the UK were £32.2 billion (US$64 billion) and long-term insurance premiums were £100 billion (US$200 billion) .
A UK survey conducted by BIIH indicated a strong preference for Shari’a compliant insurance solutions amongst UK Muslims with 50% responding that they are ‘extremely likely’ or ‘very likely’ to buy Motor Takaful as long as all aspects of the policy, including cost and level of cover, are comparable with their existing conventional insurance policy. A further 26% said that they would be ‘fairly likely’ to buy Motor Takaful. The corresponding figures for Household Takaful were 46% and 28% respectively.
British Islamic Insurance Holdings has its offices in Central London. Its creation was led by Gulf Ventures Corporation (GVC), Bahrain. GVC worked with a number of leading international consulting firms and project managed the FSA regulatory application preparation process from conception to completion. GVC worked with Ernst & Young and KPMG in the UK, and Mercer Management Consultants provided takaful advisory services. Norton Rose provided legal advise and GVC worked with one of Europe’s premier actuarial consultants, EMB Consultancy. GfK NOP, a leading market research company, helped GVC in conducting primary research in the UK to assess the interest of British Muslim population in a takaful proposition in the UK.
