Opportunity in Microfinancing - Pawnbroking (i.e. Ar Rahnu)
21 June 2022 - Best review in desktop
Pawnbroking in microfinancing
Microfinancing is small business loan provided by lenders to borrower without collateral requirement. There are 5 types of microfinance instruments namely from saving, insurance, microcredit, money transfer, and other financial products. Microcredit also known as (a.k.a.) refers to small loans for borrower with collateral or uncollateralised provisioned by financial institution (FI) such as the banks or non-financial institution (NFI) namely money lenders or pawnbrokers. The uncollateralised microcredit encompasses micro loan and personal loan. Micro loan is a small loan between RM1,000 and RM50,000, and personal loan provides up to RM200,000. One of the microcredit instrument with collateral is pawnbroking. Pawnbroking is a legal business operated by bank or non-bank that offers loans to borrower, usually to lower income group, by pledging valuable assets as collateral (i.e. gold, property, jewellery, etc.) for a short term period.
Pawnbroking in microfinancing
The conventional pawnbroking, and the emerging Shariah Principle or Islamic pawnbroking
In Malaysia, the business structure of pawnbroking are categorised into conventional and Shariah Principle or Islamic pawnbroking a.k.a. Ar Rahnu. Conventional pawnbroking usually operated by non bank is registered under Pawnbrokers Act 1972 are based on interest rate as the service fee.
Ar Rahnu can be operated by bank or cooperatives where service fee for safekeeping the collateral as security, known as Marhun are based on 2 product structures. These structures are Qard based and Tawarruq based charges Ujrah or storage fee, and Murabahah based or profit rate fee respectively. Refer to Type of pawnbroking in Malaysia.
Type of pawnbroking in Malaysia
Malaysia moving away from Qard to Tawarruq since 1 February 2020
The reason to move from Qard to Tawarruq was the result of 195th meeting on 31 July 2019, Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) resolved the Qard, Rahn, Wadi’ah, and Ujrah offered by Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) did not fulfil the Shariah requirement in Rahn Policy Document. However, 198th and 199th meetings on 29 October 2019 and 26 November 2019, SAC of BNM had made a new ruling in structuring of Ar-Rahnu product based on Tawarruq and Rahn are permissible and subject to a few conditions. This ruling came into effect from 1 February 2020.
Qard is borrowing money by pledgee (lender) to a pledger (borrower) directly bounded to repay with a fee (i.e. Ujrah or storage fee). Tawarruq is a purchase of product or asset based on deferred payment basis by way of cost-plus.
Typically, the fee charged by conventional pawnbroking is based on interest fee (ranges from 1% to 2%) however Ar Rahn fee based on Qard known as storage fee (0.65% storage fee), and Tawarruq known as profit rate (fix fee based on the gold value charged). Refer to Product structure of pawnbroking in Malaysia.
Product structure of pawnbroking in Malaysia
Product Structure | Conventional | Qard | Tawarruq |
Concept | Interest rate | Bound to repay (Ujrah or storage fee) | Based on a deferred payment basis by way of cost-plus (Murabahah) |
Contract | 1 contract
| 1 contract
| 2-stage contract
|
Fee | 1% to 2% per month | Storage fee based on pledge value per month (i.e. RM0.65 per RM100 or 0.65%) |
|
Fee Structure | Interest rate based on per month | Qard raises the issues of qard jarra naf'an (a loan that benefits the lender - safekeeping fee charged is indirectly linked to the loan) and bai'wa salaf (combination of a sales contract with a loan) which are prohibited in Shariah | Profit generated in the Ar-Rahnu structure based on tawarruq and rahn is in line with the Shariah principles |
Pawnbroking market size of RM1.1 billion in 2019 and CAGR growth of 18.3% in last two years
The revenue of pawnbroking in Malaysia grew from RM930 million in 2017 to RM1.11 billion in 2019 even though there was a slight decline of revenue to RM840 million in 2020. Refer to pawnbroking growth and market size in Malaysia.
The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) pawnbroking revenue grew at 18.3% from 2017 to 2019. The annual report 2021 published by Pos Malaysia mentioned the revenue of Pos Ar-Rahnu increased from RM64 million in 2020 to RM69.3 million in 2021. On the other hand, annual report from Bank Rakyat where the revenue of Ar Rahnu X’Change slightly declined from RM246,317,000 in 2019 to RM160,194,000 in 2020.
