Tabung Haji to focus on strategic investments, says CEO

Lembaga Tabung Haji will focus on six key areas to strengthen the Islamic institution.

KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) will focus on strategic investments capable of yielding more stable returns for its depositors.

Its group managing director and chief executive officer, Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, said TH would take this move in light of the challenging investment climate locally and abroad.

“Currently, we have RM70 billion in deposits to manage. What we are doing now is to invest in a way that would secure more stable returns. That is why we will invest more in fixed-income assets such as sukuk and real estate.

“Compared to shares or equities investment, we can get dividends and returns when there is a price or capital increase,” he told a media conference on TH’s roadmap.

Nik Hasyudeen said TH would focus on six areas with emphasis on governance and operational efficiency in efforts to strengthen the Islamic institution.

He said TH would strengthen its deposit and pilgrimage management, human resources, and the group’s subsidiaries.

The organisation would be governed based on the environment, social and governance (ESG) concept, which would also form the basis of its investment portfolio to contribute to better performance, he said.

“Sometimes, we only see TH in the short-term context and that is why we want to continue to strengthen the group so that when it’s our grandchildren’s turn to interact with TH, they will receive the same services and benefits.

“For that reason, we are focusing on making TH a respected Islamic institution for achievement and governance.

“As TH is the institution that governs those who want to perform the pilgrimage, the money we receive is for religious purposes and we should honour that responsibility and respect the mandate.”

On the haj operation, Nik Hasyudeen said TH would improve the quality of services for the comfort of pilgrims, including carrying out a review after each pilgrimage season to enable it to plan ahead for the following year.

In terms of human resources, he said, TH was committed to stable and sustainable governance through human capital investment such as the “professional Mukmin” (believers) programme, which provided training and courses to enhance efficiency and professionalism.

TH subsidiaries would also be supervised in greater detail to strengthen the Muslim and halal economy, while ensuring that benefits of the savings were distributed to the people, he said. - FMT