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UOB Malaysia launches Shariah wealth management solution

KUALA LUMPUR: United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd has launched a three-pillar, Shariah compliant wealth management solution to help affluent customers save, grow and protect their wealth.

The bank said on Tuesday the solutions comprised Shariah-compliant savings and fixed deposit accounts, Takaful wealth protection plans, as well as global and domestic Islamic unit trust investments.

The products are in three categories – wealth preservation, wealth protection and wealth accumulation.

“The launch of UOB Malaysia’s Islamic wealth management solutions helps meet the growing demand for Shariah-compliant investments,” it said.

UOB Malaysia managing director and country head of personal financial services Ronnie Lim said the bank’s Islamic wealth management solutions were designed to help customers select the right product relevant to their needs.

“We recognise that customers’ wealth needs will change depending on their life stages. For example, young professionals looking to build their nest egg may have less disposable income to invest and may prefer a savings account with a higher-than-average profit to save more quickly.

“Wealth accumulation and wealth protection solutions such as unit trusts or Takaful products may be more suitable for young families planning for their children’s future education or individuals looking to build their retirement fund.

“With this in mind, we focused on developing three core wealth management solutions to help customers easily select products and services that meet their long term financial goals,” Lim said.

UOB Malaysia’s Islamic wealth management solutions have also been designed for customers who prioritise ethical and socially responsible investing.

“Shariah-compliant investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing are often used interchangeably by investors who adopt an ethical or socially responsible investment strategy.

“Similar to other socially responsible funds within the ESG universe, Shariah screening filters out sectors such as gambling, weapons and tobacco companies as well as those companies that are overleveraged or have unproductive cash piles. This makes our Shariah-compliant financial solutions suitable for investors who look for ethical or socially responsible returns from their investments,” Lim said.

UOB Malaysia also said the three core wealth management would meet customers’ life stage needs.

For customers in the early stages of their wealth journey, UOB Malaysia offered the wealth preservation bundle.

This solution comprises the UOB ProSave Account-i, a deposit account based on the concept of Tawarruq. Through the UOB ProSave Account-i customers are able to earn guaranteed monthly returns on their savings.

Customers can also protect their savings against foreign exchange fluctuations while earning profit through the UOB Foreign Currency Call Account-i or earn higher profit on their savings through the FD Plus-i, which offered tenures ranging from one to 12 months.

“The UOB Smart Secure Takaful is a regular limited contribution plan that combines an ordinary Takaful plan with an investment-linked Takaful plan to offer customers protection, savings and the potential for higher returns through investment,” Fhauzi said.

“For customers in the later stage of their wealth journey who want to make their money work harder for them, a suite of diversified, local and global Shariah-compliant unit trust investments is available through the wealth accumulation bundle.

“Customers will have access to a wide range of Shariah-compliant funds including the recently launched United-i Global Balanced Fund.”

The United-i Global Balanced Fund seeks to help affluent customers achieve regular income with lower volatility by investing in a diversified, global portfolio of Shariah-compliant asset classes.

The fund is managed by UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) with UOB Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd (UOBIAM) acting as the sub-Manager, responsible for making asset allocation and investment decisions.

Fhauzi said in selecting the most suitable unit trust to meet each customer’s needs, UOB Malaysia implements its risk-first approach to fund selection.

UOB’s proprietary approach enables customers to understand and to ascertain their risk tolerance to ensure their unit trust selection matches their financial goals and risk tolerance level.

According to the Securities Commission, assets under management (AUM) of Islamic funds based in Malaysia rose by more than 48% since Dec 31, 2016. Over the same period, total AUM of Islamic funds rose to RM90.7bil.

Source: TheStar