Maybank Islamic Bhd, which managed assets under management (AUM) of about RM65.2 billion for 60,000 clients under its Islamic Wealth Management (IWM) division as at February this year, aims to expand the client base to 100,000 in two years.
IWM and business development head Ahmad Shareza Abdul Rahman said clients managed by IWM are categorised as privilege customers (those with assets worth RM50,000 and above) and premier customers (with assets worth RM250,000 and above).
He said since its launch in June 2021, the IWM service had seen an encouraging growth of about 20% to 30% in AUM year-on-year, which typically includes deposits, investments and takaful.
“We believe if we make it easy and provide more comprehensive services for customers to manage their wealth, more and more people would sign up,” he said in an interview.
“When we talk about wealth management, we always relate it to wealth creation and accumulation, which currently stood at about 90% of AUM at IWM, but what makes us different is that we have another two pillars supporting our services — wealth purification such as tithe and sadaqah, and distribution (estate planning),” he noted.
Estate planning in nascent stage
However, he noted that estate planning is still in a nascent stage at IWM, hence it is not a growth driver of AUM, but more for the purpose of providing a complete service.
Ahmad Shareza said a common perception among Malay-Muslims about estate planning is that wealth could be managed under faraid (Islamic law on inheritance) after their passing.
Among the reasons cited for not seeking estate planning is they do not have much property to be planned and distributed.
“The philosophy of IWM is that wealth is not ours and is from God, and we are merely trustees, and the IWM wealth management mantra is ‘from cradle to jannah (heaven)’. For Muslims, success is [attaining] jannah. Thus, our time horizon is not until we pass on, but far beyond that, hence the need to invest for that destination.
“Wealth which is not properly managed can cause a lot of disputes among family members, and this (the disputes) could be minimised if things were made clear,” Ahmad Shareza said.
He noted that the awareness of estate planning had increased after the Covid-19 pandemic, although a lot more need to be done to increase awareness.
He also said that estate planning tends to be a non-bank focus, and Maybank Islamic is probably among the few banks that provide such a service for total solutions.
“Since it is new, we are still building the product line-up. We are completing the wassiyah (will) offering, and probably will expand to hibah (the gift given while a person is alive).
“One thing that differentiates us from others is that clients can also get access to our shariah advisers. Our frontliners like customer relationship managers are all professionally certified, having obtained the Islamic financial planner certification, which is unique to Malaysia,” he shared.
He said in an effort to increase the awareness among clients, the primary focus for the first phase for IWM estate planning would be the existing customers, while the IWM division hopes the launch of new products will help it reach out to more people.
He added the charges for estate planning vary in the market from 1% to 5% of total assets, and the Maybank group is charging a competitive rate of 1.5%.
