On its 72th anniversary, the country’s cooperatives bank Co-opbank Pertama has pledged to maintain its position as the leading shariah-compliant cooperative bank in the country by offering a wide range of products and services under this segment.
Chairman Datuk Baharom Embi said the cooperative bank that was established to provide financing to farmers around Kampung Pertama, Penang has now expanded its products and services to all races.
“Some think that when a bank offers shariah-compliant products and services, it is not open to all (races), but in fact, such banking products and services can be subscribed by all regardless of the background. Our advantage is we offer competitive rates that are more profitable to our customers,” he said.
Products and services offered are Personal Financing-i, Home Financing-i, Ar-Rahnu, Takaful and Wills, Land Financing-i and members’ shares. Besides that, Baharom said CBP also offers financial products to the cooperative and corporate sectors such as Term Financing-i, Factoring Financing-i, Revolving Financing-i and letter of guarantee-I. “CBP is also involved in the development of housing projects at the end of the 1980s to meet the needs of its members,” he said, adding that the bank has received recognition as a Malaysian Premier Cooperative, and this placed it in line with the other financial institutions.
The bank has introduced strategic plans to grow its recognition and strength in the financial sector, Baharom said the strategic plan focuses on five main pillars, namely business and income diversification, increased operational efficiency, strengthening monitoring and control, environment, social and governance as well as high-performance work culture practices.
“Through this strategic plan, every department would plan and move based on strategic focus introduced to boost the CBP brand as the leading cooperative bank by 2026,” he said.
Through Aspirasi CBP-5, Baharom said CBP aimed for a dividend of 8.5 percent, profit of up to RM300 million, total assets of up to RM16 billion, financing balance of up to RM10 billion, and 150,000 members by 2026.
In spite of the pandemic, CBP managed to register impressive performance with a net income of RM250.55 million in 2021, an increase of 7.5 percent, and a profit before tax of RM86.16 million compared to RM84.15 million in the previous year.
CBP also recorded an increase in profit of 2.4 percent, its assets increased 4.9 percent from RM5.8 billion to RM6.1 billion in 2021.
