Zurich General Takaful, the Islamic general insurance arm of Zurich Malaysia, has appointed industry veteran Nazrul Hisham Abdul Hamid its new CEO with effect Monday, March 9. Nazrul has spent 25 years in the financial services sector, with almost half that time being in the takaful industry. He takes over from Zuhairi Ismail, who had run Zurich General Takaful since its spinoff from the firm’s main takaful business in 2018.

Nazrul’s experience with the takaful industry dates back to 2007, when he was appointed chief internal auditor and group general manager for Syarikat Takaful Malaysia. There, he was aggressively involved in revamping the business process, internal control system and risk management of the company. He subsequently moved to Takaful Ikhlas Berhad in 2014, serving as Chief Business Operations Officer and then Chief Operating Officer. He is a chartered member of the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia, and has several times served on the committee of the Malaysian Takaful Association.

Zurich Malaysia country head Stephen Clark said of the appointment: “Nazrul was an ideal candidate to lead our general takaful business considering his wealth of experience in the sector. With his talent to identify good business opportunities and improvements, coupled with a strong conviction to achieve performance excellence, I am confident he will elevate our general takaful business further.”