KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) -- HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd expects its joint venture takaful insurance company to be operational in October this year.

The joint venture is a partnership involving the bank's insurance arm HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Ltd, Jerneh Asia Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

The bank was awarded a takaful licence recently, HSBC Bank Malaysia's chief executive officer Zarir J. Cama told reporters after the launching of the HSBC-CHILD Reading and Writing Project here Monday.

HSBC Insurance will take up 49 percent equity in the joint venture company for RM49 million, with Jerneh Asia holding 31 percent stake for RM31 million and EPF 20 percent stake for RM20 million.

On whether the recent interest rate hike has affected the bank's loan growth, Cama said it would have an effect on some loans, especially on the consumer side.

The project is being administered by the Child Information, Learning and Development Centre (CHILD), which was established to help underprivileged children to improve communication skills in English among Malaysian children, particularly in rural schools.

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