Malaysian bank to open special Islamic pawn shops

A Malaysian bank will set up its first Islamic pawn shop this year, Malaysian news agency Bernama reported, quoting a bank official.

General Manager of Bank Rakyat Malaysia, Muhamad Sharif Baharudin, said the shop will be located in Kota Baharu, capital of north-east Kelantan state on the Malaysian peninsula.

At present the bank offers Islamic pawn shop services through its Ar-Rahnu counters at its various branches in the country.

"These pawnshops are being opened to enable Bank Rakyat to pay more attention to this scheme which is becoming popular among the people," he told reporters here.

Muhamad Sharif said since the scheme was launched by the bank, there had been positive response with about 24,000 transactions of pawning and redeeming monthly.

"Bank Rakyat at present has some $ 14.47 million worth of gold jewelery which has yet to be redeemed," he said.

Under the scheme, pawning and redeeming of gold jewelery are done according to Islamic Law.