Malaysia's RHB Islamic in unit trust, insurance deal

KUALA LUMPUR Nov 5 (Reuters) - Malaysian sharia lender RHB Islamic Bank Bhd said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with five firms to distribute Islamic unit trust funds and insurance products.

RHB Islamic, the sharia banking arm of Malaysia's fourth-largest lender RHB (RHBC.KL) will distribute the products of fund management firms AmInvestment Services Berhad, HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad, RHB Investment Management Sdn Bhd and Islamic insurers Takaful Ikhlas and MAA Takaful.

"The demand and potential market for Islamic wealth management products within the fund management and takaful (Islamic insurance) sector have experienced an upward trend globally," RHB Islamic Chairman Faisal Siraj said in a statement.

"We are pleased to note that these strong and positive demands are not only generated from the Muslim customers, but also from our non-Muslim investors." (For more Reuters coverage of Islamic finance, click on [ID:nISLAMIC]) (Reporting by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Ben Tan)