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He said the move was also taken to safeguard the interest of depositors and strengthen TH’s financial position in fulfilling its mandate in line with good governance standards.
He said TH is a financial institution that is considered systemic and closely interconnected with the national financial system due to its large scale of operations, in terms of deposit and investment size.
Tabung Haji manages almost RM82 billion in deposits, accounting for 10% of the total deposits in the Islamic banking system.
“Part of the deposits received are placed in Islamic banking institutions. A sudden withdrawal of deposits can trigger liquidity problems for the Islamic banking institution,” he said. TH holds RM36 billion worth of corporate sukuk and has large shareholdings in the form of strategic investments in various corporate companies including those listed on Bursa Malaysia.
TH is not a bank, says Najib
The proposed oversight by Bank Negara came under criticism today from former prime minister Najib Razak, who was also finance minister.
He said: “Tabung Haji is not a bank. TH does not give loans or charge interest. TH’s goals are also very different from those of banks.”
He said that if TH was controlled too tightly like a bank then the type of investment and return from investment as well as hibah would not be high any more.
He called for a postponement until after a royal commission of inquiry had completed its investigations into Tabung Haji’s finances.
Najib said Tengku Zafrul should give full focus to his duties as the coordinating minister for the National Recovery Plan. “Placing Tabung Haji under BNM is not a priority during this pandemic period,” he said in a Facebook posting.
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