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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian banks remain committed to helping their customers and borrowers after the automatic blanket moratorium that ended on September 30, particularly those who continue to be financially affected.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad said that given the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases, the bank recognizes that it is now even more crucial to provide financial assistance to affected people, especially those who have lost their revenue or whose revenue has been significantly reduced, and for business customers whose operations have been adversely impacted. Accordingly, CIMB has extended its payment assistance programs through June 2021 to give clients an extended period of time to recover.
“In addition, in line with the government’s recent announcement on expanded assistance to the bottom 40 percent (B40) income group and micro-enterprise borrowers, CIMB will offer its expanded assistance program for targeted payments involving a deferral of installments. monthly payments for a period of three months or a reduction of 50 percent in the monthly payments for the next six months to these segments ”, he told Bernama.
He said that after the blanket moratorium, CIMB has reached out and engaged with more than 400,000 borrowers, of which around 75,000 clients have accepted the offered fee waivers with an approval rate of practically 100 percent.
CIMB is urging all clients in need of financial assistance to contact the bank and can be sure that assistance will be provided and that if they choose to accept such assistance, there will be no impact on their CCRIS (Central State of the Credit Reference Information System).
Abdul Rahman said it is optimal that borrower assistance is targeted to ensure that funds and resources are targeted specifically to individuals and businesses in need, including affected small and medium-sized businesses, and individual borrowers from the B40 and the 40 medium. percent income segments (M40).
A new blanket moratorium would have allowed everyone, even those with high disposable income, to benefit from payment assistance, which is not productive in the current environment, he said.
“It is important that those who can afford to resume their payments do so, to avoid incurring higher costs and taking more time to pay their debt.
“At the same time, it is critical to ensure that the banking system remains healthy and has the liquidity of its borrowers’ repayments for banks to finance new productive loans to help fuel economic recovery,” he said.
He also noted that a blanket moratorium incurs a significant cost to banks, which have already been hit by lower revenues and high provisions given the challenging Covid-19 environment.
“Depositors and shareholders of banks, who are predominantly institutional investors managing funds on behalf of taxpayers or the public, such as Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), must be certain that banks can remain profitable to provide returns for the rakyat.
“That’s why it’s crucial to migrate to a specific payment assistance approach,” he said.
Abdul Rahman noted at the current juncture, CIMB Group has a clear policy of paying 40 to 60 percent of its net profit as dividends.
“However, the visibility of the financial results for the financial year 2020 remains low. With capital management and conservation as a priority, the board of directors will make a decision at the end of the financial year on the amount of dividends, if any, depending on the operating conditions at that time, “he added.
UOB Malaysia Managing Director and National Head of Wholesale Banking, Ng Wei Wei, said that as a commitment to helping its clients, the bank has taken proactive steps to reach out to them to offer assistance in assessing their financial position before the expiration of the general moratorium. period.
After that, he said, UOB Malaysia has organized further consultations to discuss payment plans and other arrangements that would be better tailored to their specific circumstances when necessary.
Among the specific assistance the bank currently offers is allowing clients to pay only the interest portion of the loan / financing over a period of time, lengthening the overall loan / financing period to reduce monthly installments and providing other forms of flexibility up to they are in a more stable position to resume repayments in full, he said.
As part of the measures announced during the recent Budget 2021 presentation, he said that UOB Malaysia will also expand its payment assistance targeting all clients classified in the B40 group that registered under Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) or Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR ). and eligible microenterprises with loans or financing facilities up to RM150,000.
“It is not known how long or how deep the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will be. While some clients have managed relatively well under the circumstances, others will need more support.
“UOB Malaysia supports our clients, as we have done all these years, and we will continue to prepare them for the recovery that lies ahead,” said Ng.-Called
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