The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) has helped the Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) build a competency framework for both general and life insurance.

ANZIIF’s role was to develop the competency framework including the Islamic takaful insurance system, which is based on a profit-sharing concept.

GM Clim Pacheco told insuranceNEWS.com.au the institute is heavily involved in developing the takaful general and life insurance competency.

“I believe this was the first time it had been done in Malaysia,” he said. “We did not develop all the training, but our involvement was in creating a competency framework for insurance.”

The project covered underwriting, customer service, claims, management and insurance broking.

Mr Pacheco says the work involved reviewing 72 job descriptions and creating a consistent standard based on international best practice.

“There was a lot of learning from our perspective, especially for working with the concept of takaful insurance,” he said. “But we have created a framework that will enable Malaysian participants in the insurance industry to undertake different jobs in their own country and internationally with the same standards.”

ANZIIF worked on the project for a year with the framework going live last week.

The Malaysian insurance industry has a workforce of about 25,000 people and is expanding rapidly.