Abd Rani Lebai Jaafar
KUALA TERENGGANU: RHB Islamic Bank says it will offer its Ar-Rahnu-i Islamic pawnbroking scheme at all its branches nationwide by year-end.
“We will do it in stages, beginning with the Bandar Baru Bangi branch,” chief executive officer/managing director Abd Rani Lebai Jaafar told reporters yesterday after launching the Ar-Rahnu-i scheme at its Paya Keladi branch here, the bank’s second branch to offer its Ar-Rahnu scheme.
Also present was East Coast regional director Nazri Othman.
Other branches to offer the Ar-Rahnu-i service include Taman Setia Tropika in Johor Bharu, Taman Flora Utama (Batu Pahat), Dataran Glomac (Kelana Jaya), Jalan Raja Laut (Kuala Lumpur), Sungai Petani (Kedah) and Shah Alam.
RHB Islamic, which offers cash loans of between RM100 and RM50,000 with a financing tenure of one year, began offering its Ar-Rahnu-i scheme at its Kubang Kerian branch in Kota Baharu, Kelantan in April.
Abd Rani said RHB’s Ar-Rahnu-i package, which combines three syariah-compliant concepts of Ar-Rahnu, Al-Wadiah Yad Dhamanah and Al-Qard, offers customers cash loans of up to 75 per cent of the market value of their gold surety.
He said the Kubang Kerian branch had given out Ar-Rahnu loans totalling RM1.3 million with gold collateral totalling RM1.84 million, or RM258,000 in loans and RM369,000 collateral a month.
He said, “RHB Islamic is confident of doing as well or even better in its other branches, based on the need for many businesswomen in Terengganu and Kelantan for easy loans to finance their business.”
“We know women here love gold jewellery, and it’s a good thing as the price of gold has never dropped,” he said. — Bernama