KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) told its 8.8 million depositors today that they need not worry about the state of its reserves, although it admitted to receiving a warning letter from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) that claimed its liabilities outweighed its assets.

In a press statement, LTH’s group director and chief executive officer Tan Sri Ismee Ismail said BNM had not accounted for the fund’s investment portfolios such as its subsidiaries, plantation assets and properties in its letter.

“LTH has been performing well financially... For example, our cash assets alone as at December 31, 2015, stood at RM10.7 billion,” he said.

“Throughout the 2014 and 2015 financial years, LTH’s total asset value was higher than its liabilities, taking into account the fair value of all its investment portfolios,” he added.

Noting that the letter from BNM stated that the board’s assets were lower than its liabilities, Ismee, however, neither agreed nor disagreed, only saying that the central bank had suggested for LTH to review its reserve policies.

“As an Islamic financial institution, LTH is committed to working with all parties to ensure steps and risk management needs are met and thus, I would like to say that LTH is in the midst of studying its reserve policies as a step further into improvement and continuous reinforcement,” he said.

Given this, he stressed that the board was not facing any financial difficulties and advised depositors to be more cautious when reading articles over the Internet.

Ismee also assured depositors that the dividend and bonus payouts will be made during the first quarter of the year without any delay.

“2015 has been a tough year but through an asset allocation strategy and proper risk management by LTH, the board managed to generate good returns.

“But because of the uncertainties posed in 2016, LTH will only declare bonuses after considering the current economic situation, share market, oil price and currency exchange rate,” he said, adding that he hoped to declare the bonus payout by early next month.

Copies of two letters purportedly issued by the central bank stating that the board’s reserves was in negative surfaced on the Internet yesterday.

The letter to Tabung Haji, among others, said that Section 22 of the board’s act did not warrant it to announce dividends and bonuses if its assets are lesser than its obligations.

Another letter to Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom was to inform the minister in charge of Muslim affairs of the financial implications the matter would have on the government because deposits from the board were wholly guaranteed by Putrajaya.