Malaysia's RHB Islamic in unit trust, insurance deal

Reuters - Malaysian sharia lender RHB Islamic Bank Bhd said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with five firms to distribute Islamic unit trust funds and insurance products.

RHB Islamic, the sharia banking arm of Malaysia's fourth-largest lender RHB will distribute the products of fund management firms AmInvestment Services Berhad, HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad, RHB Investment Management Sdn Bhd and Islamic insurers Takaful Ikhlas and MAA Takaful.

"The demand and potential market for Islamic wealth management products within the fund management and takaful (Islamic insurance) sector have experienced an upward trend globally," RHB Islamic Chairman Faisal Siraj said in a statement.

"We are pleased to note that these strong and positive demands are not only generated from the Muslim customers, but also from our non-Muslim investors.

RHB Bank eyes top three position in Asean

Malaysia Star: The RHB banking group, which is in the process of integrating its data and processing centre, aims to be the top three financial institutions in Asean by 2020, says group managing director Michael Joseph Barrett.

“We are upgrading our data centre to centralise our banking business system in the region to a one-stop centre in Malaysia,” he said after a signing ceremony with IBM Malaysia to upgrade its technology infrastructure with IBM System z10 yesterday.

The group’s goal with the z10 project is to become a one-stop banking institution, covering services from Islamic banking to insurance banking.

The investment will also support the critical processing capacity for the group’s clients throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand.

It recently underwent a strategic transformation exercise which brought its information technology (IT) operations under a single umbrella called Central Technology Unit, which is responsible for delivering enhanced shared IT services to the group.

“We are pleased with the partnership with IBM as we can see how fast technology has changed.

“We have invested about RM50mil in this system and, currently, it is still in the testing stage,” Barrett said, adding that it would be ready by March.

He was confident the z10 would help serve customers better in line with the group’s aspiration to be a convenient one-stop financial institution.

IBM Malaysia managing director Ou Shian Waei said RHB was the first local bank to use the system.

“RHB has proven its innovative stance as it leads the way in adopting the world’s most powerful computer, IBM System z10 enterprise class, to meet the escalating needs of its clients locally and regionally,” he said.

The relationship with RHB had been built for more than a decade and, since then, IBM had seen the banking group grow and prosper, Ou said, adding that he was confident the group would reach its goals while keeping its clients’ needs at heart.

RHB Expects RM400 Mln Deposits And Financing From New Service

Bernama) -- With its new Az Zahra Privilege Ladies Banking, RHB Islamic Bank aims to secure about RM400 million worth of deposits and financing from 500 high net worth women this year.

"It is about 20 percent of the targeted total deposits and financing of RHB Islamic for this year," its managing director Jamelah Jamaluddin told reporters at the product launch here Wednesday.

The service concept was mooted on the basis that women in general were now more involved in development of the nation's economy, she said.

This provided an opportunity for RHB Islamic to develop a customised set of Syariah-based products and services for women, Jamelah said.

Az Zahra is being positioned as an exclusive banking service to cater for high net worth women whereby they will enjoy personalised service and products with preferential rates and discounts, she said.

Jamelah said RHB Islamic will open dedicated Privilege Ladies Banking lounges in Penang and Johor Baharu besides the current lounge at its main branch in Kuala Lumpur.

According to her, the new product has already received good response as RHB Islamic received about RM10.5 million in deposits and financing following the soft launch in February this year.

Az Zahra membership is open for discerning and privileged women able to meet criteria such as a minimum home financing of RM250,000, minimum auto financing of RM150,000 or minimum total combined deposits of RM50,000, she said.

Jamelah said by having the new service and other new products in the pipeline, RHB Islamic was confident of contributing 20 percent to the group's revenue this year from 10 percent previously.

RHB Capital Bhd posted a higher revenue of RM6.156 billion in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2007, from RM5.506 billion the year before.

RHB Islamic Bank is wholly owned by RHB Bank, while its asset management and unit trust businesses are held under RHB Investment Management Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of RHB Investment Bank.

The RHB Banking Group is the fourth largest fully integrated financial products and services group in Malaysia.

Its four broad categories of businesses -- commercial banking, Islamic banking, investment banking and insurance -- are collectively grouped under RHB Capital, which is listed on Bursa Malaysia.

The groups businesses are offered through its main subsidiaries -- RHB Bank and RHB Investment, which are wholly owned by RHB Capital, and RHB Insurance, which is 79.5 percent owned by RHB Capital.