Tabung Haji deposits continue to rise, reaching RM88 bln as of May

KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) continues to record historic highs with total deposits reaching RM88 billion as of May 2022, an increase by almost 16 per cent from RM75.92 billion on Dec 31, 2020, reflecting the growing confidence of Muslims in the country's haj management institution.

Under the HIJRAH24 Strategic Transformation Plan, TH has targeted a total deposit of RM100 billion.

The increase was also quite significant as monthly net deposits had reached more than RM1 billion, acting executive director, operations, Mohamed Ameen Abdul Wahab said.

"For the record, TH recorded a net deposit of RM1.1 billion for April 2022, among the highest monthly net deposits to date, reflecting the confidence of Muslims in Malaysia towards TH," he told Bernama.

TH announced a profit distribution after zakat (tithe) of 3.10 per cent for 2021, which would benefit more than 8.4 million depositors, involving a total distribution of RM2.46 billion compared with RM2.24 billion distributed in 2020, an increase of RM219 million.

He said TH is always committed to improving its services in an effort to encourage all Muslims in Malaysia to have a TH account.

Mohamed Ameen said at the moment, about 55 per cent of Muslims in Malaysia still do not have a TH account.

"The number of TH depositors at the moment is about 8.5 million while the number of Muslims in Malaysia, according to 2020 statistics, is about 18.9 million. About 45 per cent of Malaysians who are Muslims are TH depositors," he said.

"TH was established to help and manage Malaysian Muslims to perform the haj, which is one of the (five) pillars of Islam. Therefore, it is important for all Malaysian Muslims to open an account and register for the haj (those who can afford it). The quota of haj, on the other hand, is determined by another party," he said.

He said deposits earned from such savings would be invested to earn profits which would then be ascertained for zakat.

"In 2021, TH handed over RM106 million zakat to asnaf (deserving recipients of zakat) nationwide. If 55 per cent of Malaysian Muslims, who still don't have a TH account, open a TH account, the deposit size will grow and more profits can be generated to help more asnaf nationwide," he said.

TH has also improved the service in line with the needs of consumers.

Account opening can be done online and applicants only need to attend any TH branch nationwide for biometric verification only.

He said TH is also committed to improving its services in ensuring that the institution could cater to all Muslims in Malaysia.

"TH has now automated all the services offered at the branch, in digital form or online. This means that all the services that we can do at the branch, whether financial transactions or haj, can now be done online," he said.

He said that this year, for the first time, TH released the haj offer online through the THiJARI application and would-be pilgrims could reply to the offer through the same application, without having to come to the branch to submit the offer acceptance form.

"They just have to come to the branch to hand over their passports and medical treatment record," he said.

"We at TH envisioned that services at TH should be better or at least on par with the industry. Our depositors come from various segments. Thus, when we want to introduce a digital platform, it should be comprehensive for various segments," he said.

The THiJARI digital platform was launched in February 2020 and has now reached more than 1.5 million users and over one million users of mobile phone applications.

"We receive nearly 90,000 online transactions daily. These figures reflect depositors' acceptance of the efforts we have undertaken," he said.

However, he said depositors, who are less proficient with online services, could still enjoy all these services traditionally at the counters of TH branches.

"We also have another channel where we work with our bank partners, namely Bank Islam, Bank Rakyat, Maybank, CIMB and most recently, AmBank," he added.

-- BERNAMA