Finance expert worried Christchurch victims uninsured

A Muslim economics and finance professor is worried victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings don't have life insurance, leaving their family out of pocket. Faruk Balli from Massey University, says taking out an insurance policy with a bank or corporate insurance firm is against Islamic law, which doesn't sanction taking risk or borrowing money to make money. Mr Balli says Muslims have their own type of insurance called Takaful - but no company in New Zealand offers that. The country's largest life and health insurer, AIA-Sovereign, says it believes a handful of its customers were injured in the attacks, but they're yet to receive any claims from them. Mr Balli told Madison Reidy the matter of insurance is probably yet to be considered by the injured or victims families, but he expects it to be a problem when they do. Those supporting victims families in Christchurch won't say if the matter of insurance has been raised yet - but they're confident government compensation, ACC payments, and donations will help them get by financially. Radio New Zealand understands a number of organisations are setting up a financial framework to help those affected by the shootings long-term. Meanwhile, Tower and AA Insurance say they've received some claims and calls following the shootings - they've accepted all of them, despite typically excluding terrorism in their policies.