Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB), the wholly-owned unit trust management company of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), launched the new Wakaf ASNB service officiated by PNB Group Chairman Tun Arifin Zakaria, in conjunction with Minggu Saham Digital 2021 (MSD 2021).
Wakaf ASNB, available from Oct 25 2021, provides opportunities for investors to carry out charitable deeds through their ASNB unit trust funds.
Investors’ unit trust funds donated as wakaf will be retained as the principal investment to generate potential annual returns. The returns from the principal investment are subsequently channelled to public interest projects annually, even after the investor passes on.
Arifin Zakaria said: “ASNB is the first unit trust management institution to be appointed as a ‘Mutawalli’ by the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP). With this appointment, ASNB is entrusted to fully manage this wakaf fund with a high level of governance and professionalism for the benefit of the ummah and community.
“The returns from the wakaf fund will then be channelled to wakaf projects in the health, education, and community upliftment sectors as well as for humanitarian missions. The Joint ASNB-MAIWP Wakaf Distribution Committee will carry out a stringent screening and selection process to determine the list of deserving beneficiary projects”.
The committee consists of representatives from the wakaf asset administrator, who is ASNB Wakalah Sdn Bhd (AWSB), MAIWP and other independent members also act as advisers on legal issues related to shariah compliance, policies, programmes and governance of the wakaf fund.
PNB President & Group Chief Executive Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn stated: “PNB supports the effort to empower the wakaf industry in Malaysia by offering Wakaf ASNB as a new innovation to Malaysians.
Throughout MSD 2021, PNB offers various financial planning and investment-related programmes, including Islamic financial management such as estate planning facilities through Hibah Amanah and Trust Declaration, zakat and wakaf.”
The launch of Wakaf ASNB was followed by a forum entitled ‘Wakaf – Faedah yang Berkekalan’ featuring Prof. Madya Dato’ Dr Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim and Prof. Madya Dr Sharifah Hayaati Syed Ismail as the panellists while moderating the forum was Ustaz Mohd Hariri Mohamad Daud.
