Singapore – Maybank Singapore announces a payout of 1% per annum hibah rate for existing Ar-Rihla Regular Savings Account-i (Ar-Rihla RSA-i) holders. The product was launched a year ago, and has seen steady interest from customers who wanted the peace of mind that their deposits are used for ethical activities that comply with the Wadiah concept.

Said Mr Mohd Ismail Hussein, Head of Islamic Banking, Maybank Singapore, "We are heartened by the trust that customers placed in the Bank and also in our product. While they know that hibah rates are discretionary, we received strong interest when the product was launched a year ago. The 1% hibah rate we are giving out at the first year anniversary of the product is testament to Maybank’s commitment to reward account holders with competitive returns benchmarked against other savings products available in the market. We believe customers will be delighted with the 1% rate we are giving out, which is currently much higher than industry savings rates."

Supported by PERGAS (the Singapore Islamic Scholars & Religious Teachers Association), the Ar-Rihla RSA-i is essentially a Syariah-compliant Passbook Savings Account that is based on the Wadiah concept, which guarantees that customers’ savings are free from conventional interest payouts. In addition, any usage of funds from such accounts as a source of investment or financing will also be done by the Bank in a Syariah-compliant manner. Deposits placed are invested in Syariah-compliant assets, and at the Bank’s discretion, a portion of the profits garnered from these assets can be allocated to reward the depositors at the end of each 12-month period.

Mr Hussein continued, "Overall the response has been very good, and the number of accounts opened has actually doubled our expectation for the first year. Although the primary objective of Ar-Rihla is to provide a regular savings account for Muslim customers planning to do the Hajj, there is no restriction for non-Muslims who also wish to benefit from this flexible scheme to save regularly for other purposes."

Like any ordinary savings account, deposits under the Ar-Rihla RSA-i are guaranteed up to SGD 50,000 under the Deposit Insurance Scheme in Singapore, and customers can withdraw any amount when the need arises. Customers can start saving from a low minimum of SGD 50 a month and for a period ranging from 12 months to 10 years.

About Maybank

Maybank Group is the leading financial services provider in Malaysia catering to the needs of consumers, investors, entrepreneurs, non-profit organisations and corporations. The Group, which has expanded internationally, has the largest network among Malaysian banks of over 2,100 Branches and offices in 17 countries, employing 42,000 Maybankers and serving over 21 million customers. It also has the distinction of holding the largest asset base of more than USD 135 billion; and market capitalisation of USD 22.0 billion; with total equity and total net profit of USD 10.8 billion and USD 1.5 billion respectively.

A Qualifying Full Bank, Maybank Singapore has established a significant presence in the retail and wholesale banking markets in Singapore, with net asset size of SGD 32.6 billion (as at 31 December 2011) and staff strength of over 1,400.

Our network includes 27 service locations in Singapore, and we are also part of atm5 – Singapore's only shared ATM network among six QFBs with a combined reach of more than 130 touch points and 170 ATMs within Singapore.

Maybank Singapore believes that human resource is the Bank’s best asset. In 2009, Maybank became the first and only Bank to receive triple certification for Singapore Quality Class, Singapore Service Class and People Developer given out by SPRING Singapore. We pressed on in our pursuit for business excellence and in 2010, Maybank was awarded I-Class status by SPRING Singapore, becoming the first Bank in Singapore to achieve all four certifications at an enterprise level.

In the area of employee relations, we received the Excellence in Employee Engagement Award as part of The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Service Awards 2010. In addition, Maybank also received the Work-Life Excellence Award given out by the Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy, becoming the only Bank to receive this award three times in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010. In recognition of our fair and merit-based employment practices, Maybank was also conferred the inaugural Exemplary Employer Award given out by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) in 2010.

In 2011, Maybank Singapore reached another milestone in its business excellence journey by becoming the first and only financial institution to receive the People Excellence Award at an enterprise level. Awarded by the Singapore Quality Award Governing Council, this Award is a strong testament to the Bank’s people-first culture. Maybank Singapore is also the recipient of the Best Workplace Award given at the Singapore Compact CSR Awards 2011.

To find out more about Maybank Singapore, please visit www.maybank2u.com.sg

About Maybank Islamic Banking

As of 31 March, 2012, Maybank Islamic is the largest Islamic Banking player in the ASEAN region, with an asset size of RM 76.5 billion. Maybank started its Islamic Banking operations in Malaysia on March 1993, followed by Singapore in November 2005. Maybank's strong home market position in Malaysia has enabled the Bank to expand to Bahrain, Labuan, London and Singapore.

In 2009, Maybank Islamic launched several new Islamic banking products – Foreign Currency Mudharabah-i (FCM-i), the first such product in Malaysia, and the Profit Now Account-i (PNA-i). Two other mainstream Islamic banking products were also launched Commodity Murabahah Term Financing-i (CMTF-i) and Murabahah Term Financing-i (MTF-i) based on the Syariah concept of Murabahah.

Under Islamic Banking in Singapore, Maybank was the first in Singapore to introduce a Syariah-compliant online savings account, iSAVvy Savings account-i, with ATM access and a special dividend-on-dividend feature.

Another first in Singapore is the Syariah-compliant two-in-one checking and savings account known as PremierOne Account-i. In June 2007, the Bank also pioneered another first – Islamic Passbook Savings Account to cater to customers who prefer the conventional passbook accounts. In June 2011, Ar-Rihla Regular Savings Account-i was launched, the first Syariah-compliant regular savings account for Hajj pilgrims.