About the Bank
The Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (the SAC) 155th Meeting
The Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (SAC) held its 155th meeting on 27 January 2015. The meeting discussed among others issues relating to Islamic deposits and Islamic hire purchase.
Islamic deposit
The SAC decided that the features and operationalization of Islamic deposits must be in line with their underlying Shariah contracts and their specific Shariah requirements arising from a specific contract. Where there is a combination of contracts for Islamic deposit, it should be properly differentiated to ensure clarity in terms of rights and liabilities of the contracting parties as well as to avoid confusion and misapprehension amongst depositors.
Islamic hire and purchase
The SAC is of the view that in situation where the leased goods are returned to the owner for the purpose of selling it to a third party prior to the maturity of theijarah contract, the hirer (customer) is entitled to the difference if the selling price of the goods is more than the outstanding balance owing to the bank/owner. Similarly, the owner is entitled to claim for the difference if the selling price of the goods is less than the outstanding balance. With regard to booking fees, the SAC has no objection to the proposal of requiring the owner to refund 90% of the booking fees to the intending hirer who withdraws the booking of the goods prior to entering into the contract.
This article is also available in Arabic version
