From left: Lembaga Zakat Selangor CEO Mohd Sabirin Mohd Sarbini, Lembaga Zakat Selangor member of the board of trustees Badariah Abdul Jalil, Maybank Islamic chairman Datuk Zulkiflee Abbas Abdul Hamid and Maybank Islamic CEO Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican.
KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Islamic Berhad and Lembaga Zakat Selangor (LZS) have inked a collaborative agreement to simplify Zakat payments while promoting impactful social contributions.
The agreement, which formalised the appointment of Maybank Islamic as the main operational bank for LZS, is envisaged to boost contributions to poverty alleviation programmes, with the bank amplifying these efforts through its online channels.
“Zakat not only contributes to poverty alleviation but also improves prosperity within a community. With this partnership, our role as a bank provides the zakat agency with a more efficient and comprehensive cash management services from its zakat collection through to its distribution, as LZS capitalises on Maybank’s vast service network and digital banking,” Maybank Islamic chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican said in a statement.
LZS will be collecting zakat through multiple collection channels such as M2U, Maybank’s e-wallet app or MAE, JomPay and credit and debit cards whereas zakat received over the counter will be deposited through a remote deposit system located at the respective branch.
“The partnership with Maybank Islamic completes our network of service facilities. Our cooperation with the Maybank Group began in 1998 under Malayan Banking Berhad
and we moved to Maybank Islamic in 2022 in line with our aspiration to partner with Shariah-compliant institutions,” LZS CEO Mohd Sabirin Mohd Sarbini said.
He said Maybank played a role in the increase of zakat collection in Selangor where last year, the amount collected via Maybank reached RM52.8mil.
This amount comprised 63% of the total collection derived from the
payment channel platform of other financial institutions appointed by LZS.
Last year, LZS received a record zakat collection of RM1.07bil and distributed RM1.05bil, benefiting more than 350,000 asnaf individuals.
The majority of the zakat, or RM885mil, was dedicated to social, educational, and religious institution pillars and over RM700mil
in zakat was allocated towards social development for the asnaf community in Selangor.
