Bank Rakyat announced that it has granted moratorium on RM 6 billion worth repayments. Chief executive officer, Rosman Mohamed says the Islamic cooperative bank was refraining from collecting about RM 1 billion every month.
The effort by Bank Islam comes as necessary assistance towards their customers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Assistance should not come just from the government; the whole community must chip in. Everyone must give their solid support in getting our economy back on track,” he told Bernama.
The bank is also studying ways to ensure they will be able to collect the loans after the moratorium period ends. According to Bernama, Rosman stated that it was a shared responsibility.
“If you want Bank Rakyat to be successful, if you want the bank to keep paying dividends, taxes and zakat, then it needs to move forward,” Rosman was quoted.
The bank will also be absorbing certain costs during the moratorium period as a way to aid borrowers from the B40 group who will be having difficulties in paying back.
Prior to the current effort by the bank, Bank Rakyat had allocated RM 300 million under the Bank Rakyat (BRCares) campaign that will be running until Sept 30.
The bank had recently reported a group net profit of RM 1.15 billion for the financial year ended Dec 31 2019 and declared a 14 percent dividend.
