KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Islamic Bhd today launched EzyWasiat, a wasiat (will) writing service for the Muslim community in Malaysia.
The new digital service allows customers to plan and prepare their wasiat in an efficient manner and within the Shariah and faraid (Islamic inheritance) principles, the bank said in a statement.
It said that the service, in collaboration with financial technology (fintech) platform provider CreateWills Sdn Bhd, aims to attract about 50,000 customers within 12 months.
Chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican said the target has not been firmed up but if it is well received by customers this year, it can make the service available to other markets where the group has a presence.
“When it comes to Islamic wealth management, we have a footprint (and) our aspiration is that if we can actually serve our customers in one country, presumably, it can also be offered to a wider community in countries where we have a footprint within Asean and beyond,” he said at a press conference after launching EzyWasiat.
Mohamed Rafique said the bank could serve a deeper pool of potential customers within the community based on the five pillars of wealth management, namely wealth creation, accumulation, protection, purification, and distribution.
“Wealth management should be accessible to as many as possible. With that number, we can actually build relationships with customers to understand their needs, how we can serve them better, and perhaps in areas that we need to strengthen further.
He said EzyWasiat would be the first product to incorporate a faraid algorithm in Malaysia, and the process of writing a wasiat could be completed within just 30 minutes from as low as RM600.
“Our objective in offering this digitised wasiat writing service is to provide our customers with peace of mind when it comes to estate planning so they can be assured that their estate is handled properly for the benefit of their beneficiaries, upon their demise,” he said.
He said the service would be targeted but not limited to Muslims who have long harboured intentions to prepare a wasiat, but have been held back due to the perceived complexities, the cost involved, and the lack of convenience.
He noted that the introduction of EzyWasiat would be in line with the bank’s aspiration to develop new and innovative propositions that could address the needs of the wider community.
“The importance of estate and legacy planning is not insignificant. Some of us may have come across media articles on properties or assets said to be worth more than RM70 billion that are pending distribution.
“A significant portion of this is reported to be belonging to Muslims. This could be avoided if we become more aware of the importance of planning for the distribution of our assets prior to our demise,” he said.
Mohamed Rafique said the group remains steadfast to spearhead Islamic banking in the region and beyond.
With the right partners, Maybank Islamic will be well-placed to do so and to pave the way for the next phase of growth in Islamic finance, he said.
“Beyond delivering on our promise of sustainability through Islamic finance, we are also putting efforts to digitise our product offerings and deliver solutions to our customers, hence the partnership with like-minded partners such as CreateWills,” he said. – BERNAMA
