KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 22): Maybank Islamic Bhd's latest bank offering, the Mudarabah (profit sharing) Investment Account (IA), will enable deposit accounts to earn between 30 and 60 basis points (bps) extra in returns based on its investment in diversified portfolio of assets beginning July.

Its chief executive officer Muzaffar Hisham told reporters that the IA was part of a compliance requirement arising from Bank Negara's Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA) to promote financial stability, strengthen business conduct and foster consumers' interest and protection.

"With the new IA reclassification, customers of the affected existing Mudarabah deposit products have been given till May 31 to consent. (They can) either have their accounts reclassified as IA or other Shariah-compliant deposit products (including Wadiah — safe custody)," he said.

Muzaffar said with the IA taking effect on June 16, about 350,000 deposit account holders who opted for the transfer would begin earning an indicative returns of between 30 and 60 bps extra the following month.

He explained that current features of current and savings account (CASA) consist of between zero to 2% indicative profit per annum while profit payment frequency was either monthly, half-yearly or yearly depending on the product.

Profit earned was also subject to outstanding balance-band or number of withdrawals and varies by product, he said of the existing CASA deposit.

"However, with the IA, the indicative profit is between 1% and 3.5% which is subject to the performance of funds. Profit payment is monthly regardless of deposit tenure and profit earned will be paid based on the number of invested days," he said.