KUALA LUMPUR: Muslims in Malaysia can now perform various transactions related to haj affairs, including opening their Tabung Haji account and managing their account balance or records at their fingertips.
More interestingly, the process of replying whether or not to receive the haj offer and paying 'dam' or penalty can also be done online in the future.
This is all made possible by the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) digitalisation initiative that enables its depositors to perform various transactions at their convenience.
TH Operations executive director Mustakim Mohamad said the hassle-free online facility provided since last year through the THiJARI mobile app platform was one of the contributing factors to TH's success in achieving its target of RM80 billion in depositors' savings earlier than expected.
"In 2020, the accumulated savings of TH depositors was RM75.9 billion and TH has set a target of reaching RM80 billion by the end of this year. Despite the challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we managed to achieve the target early last month," he told reporters in a recent virtual interview.
Mustakim said the positive development showed that TH was providing a good online platform and channel for depositors to transfer funds into their account, in line with its goal of becoming the leading financial institution for Muslims in the country.
He said TH also expects to see an increase in the number of active depositors which is now almost nine million people, especially among the youngsters through its digital platform empowerment.
"TH would like to see more depositors start Haj savings from a young age through the newly launched Virtual Account Opening (VAO) platform, which allows parents or guardians to open an account for their children below 18 years via THiJARI," he said.
According to Mustakim, through VAO, it would only take a minute for depositors to activate an account.
Apart from the THiJARI platform, he said depositors can also transfer funds online into their TH savings account via JomPAY.
Mustakim also said that the VAO platform has received an encouraging response when a total of 4,000 applications were received, a day after it was launched on May 27.
He said TH would continue to expand access to its services through digital platforms from time to time as currently, almost 80 per cent of transactions at TH were carried out using online channels.
At the same time, Mustakim said, cash withdrawal transactions can still be performed at counters or automatic teller machines and Internet banking via TH's four strategic partners, namely Bank Islam, Bank Rakyat, Maybank and CIMB Bank.-- BERNAMA