Determinants of financial performance of insurance companies and takaful operators in Malaysia: a comparative study

The insurance and takaful sector is one of the fundamental elements in the financing of the Malaysia economy and contributes to the effort to support the development of the
countries. In this study, we examine the impact of firm specific factors (underwriting risk, size and expense ratio) and macroeconomic factors (GDP, BLR and TBR) on the
performance of eight (8) insurance companies and eight (8) takaful operators in Malaysia over a period of eight (8) years (2011-2018). Secondary data that was collected from the financial statements (balance sheet and income statements) of insurance companies and takaful operators; and statistics report from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) are the major sources of data for this study. The results from panel data indicates that the variables underwriting risk, size, GDP and TBR are the most important determinants of the financial performance of takaful operators measured by ROA (Return on Assets) and ROE (Return on Equity). However, the financial performance of insurance companies is statistically significant with variables size, expense ratio, GDP and BLR, determines the performance of insurance companies measured by ROE. As for ROA only expense ratio is significant.