KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) — Maybank Islamic Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), aims to expand to all Asean member countries that Maybank has a presence.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Muzaffar Hisham, said the bank intended to continue its regional expansion to other Asean nations after focusing on Singapore and Indonesia as part of its internationalisation initiative.

“We want to go to other Asean countries where Maybank has a presence but at the moment, we are focusing on these two,” he told reporters after launching the ‘Kembara Zakat (Tithe) Maybank Islamic’ and the handing over of zakat contributions to the Federal Territories Zakat Collection Centre (PPZ-MAIWP) here today.

Minister in the Prime Minister Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, officiated the ceremony.

Also present were Datuk Seri Ismail Shahudin (Maybank Islamic Chairman), Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (Lembaga Tabung Haji Chairman), Datuk Ismee Ismail (Tabung Haji Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer) and Datuk Mustaffa Abdul Rahman (PPZ-MAIWP Chairman).

Muzaffar said the bank has invested a lot of time and effort in the expansion opportunities, which were in line with the aspiration of Bank Negara Malaysia to internationalise Islamic finance.

He said the bank grew by an average of 25 per cent per annum, held 30 per cent market share locally and contributed 30 per cent to the loans portfolio of Maybank domestically.

On the local market, Muzaffar said, he was cautiously optimistic on the loans growth performance for the second half of this year as most mega projects under the Economic Transformation Programme had been rolled out and funded.

“We also have to be mindful that the public debt is very high,” he said.

Up to the first quarter of this year, Maybank Islamic has four million depositors with a deposit value of RM70 billion.

At the event, Muzaffar handed over RM15.2 million in business tithe to 15 zakat collection centres including a RM1 million to PPZ-MAIWP.

Besides handing zakat, the bank also donated trolley bags and toiletries worth RM1.5 million to the pilgrims who will perform the haj this year as part of its ‘Sahabat Korporat Tabung Haji’ campaign.

 *This article was published by Bernama. Read the original article here.