TCS completes phase-I of Islamic insurance solution

The Malaysian subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has completed the first phase of the design and development for the $2.3 million project to build and develop a comprehensive Islamic insurance solution, Takaful Integrated System, for Takaful Malaysia.

Takaful is an Arabic word meaning "guaranteeing each other" or joint guarantee. Takaful is perceived as cooperative insurance, where members contribute a certain sum of money to a common pool. The purpose of this system is not profits but to uphold the principle of "bear ye one another's burden."

According to a TCS release, Takaful Malaysia and TCS will work together to bring the system to the bank's branches and associates in South Asia and Middle East as well as other takaful operators in the Islamic insurance business. The system is expected to be fully operational by mid-2005.

The Takaful Integrated System will be built on J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) architecture and will automate Takaful Malaysia's business processes such as policy administration and claims processing.

"We've completed the blueprint for a new breed of insurance systems, and now we can start building," said Girija Pande, regional director and head, Asia Pacific, in the release. Takaful Malaysia is the first operator to offer takaful businesses in Malaysia. It was established following recommendations from the Malaysian government's Special Task Force on the "Study for the Establishment of an Islamic Insurance Company (Takaful)".

Tata Consultancy Services Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, a MSc (Mutimedia Super Corridor) Status company, will oversee the planning, implementation, testing and end-user training, while TCS' offshore centres in India will manage the capacity planning, design, development and data migration for this project.