INTERNATIONAL. Principle Insurance, the UK’s first fully Shariah compliant car and home insurance provider, has been instrumental in taking the Islamic principle of Takaful insurance to Britain. 

In doing so, the company has changed the competitive landscape of the UK insurance market over the last 14 months.

The company, which has major investors throughout the GCC region, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE as well as Malaysia, trades under the brand name Salaam Halal insurance.

Despite London being hailed at the emerging global ‘hub’ for Islamic finance* it was severely lacking in one aspect of Shariah compliant financial services – a dedicated Takaful provider.

Even though the UK insurance market has more than 167 insurance companies** actively writing motor and home insurance, there had never been a real choice for Muslims who wanted the option of buying a product that was aligned with their faith, until now.

After many months of planning, the UK’s first independent Islamic insurance company, Principle Insurance, was granted FSA approval in April 2008.  At the end of July 2008, it launched its first product, motor insurance, under the Salaam Halal insurance brand. A Shariah compliant home insurance product followed in April 2009.

For the first time, Britain’s 2.4 million Muslims are now able to purchase motor and home insurance from Salaam Halal insurance, which offers them all the benefits of conventional insurance, without compromising their religious beliefs. Non-Muslims are also attracted by the ethical nature of the Salaam products and their competitive price.

Key facts about the company:

-          Salaam Halal insurance has provided two million motor quotes since launch and conversion rates via the call centre are in excess of 20% and 5% on the web. 

-          There is a 40% prompted brand awareness of Salaam Halal insurance amongst its target audience - higher than many mainstream insurance providers in the UK.

-          The company’s objective is to be competitive for the vast majority of its customers. 

-          The company’s UK Call Centres are able to converse with customers in English, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati or Urdu.

-          Principle Insurance has been shortlisted for the category ‘Insurance Innovation of the year’ for the Insurance Times magazine Awards 2009.

Principle Insurance adopted elements of a classic direct response advertising campaign to promote the Salaam Halal products and adapted it to work for an ethnic audience, using TV, press, direct mail, inserts and online activity. 

All the advertising directs consumers to a UK-based call centre, or to the website www.salaaminsurance.com where they can get a quote and buy online.

In addition, Principle also embarked on a community awareness and outreach programme with mosques, Imams and community leaders across the UK, as well as organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, to raise awareness of its products.

In January 2009, Salaam Halal insurance launched exclusively on Moneysupermarket.com (the UK’s leading price comparison website) giving both Muslims and non-Muslims the opportunity to compare prices of Shariah compliant insurance with conventional motor insurance for the first time.

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