The Maybank Group, through its Islamic banking arm, Maybank Islamic allocated RM1.7 million fund through its flagship Regional Ramadhan Relief Programme, to provide essential food items to more than 6,000 underprivileged families in 11 countries – Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, the Rohingya Muslim community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) – where Maybank Islamic has a presence since 2019.
The essential food supplies included rice, cooking oil, flour, sugar, and other basic food items in preparation for the upcoming month of Ramadan.
In a symbolic ceremony today (Mac 4), the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Maybank Islamic, Nor Shahrizan Sulaiman, and the President Director of Maybank Indonesia, Taswin Zakaria presented the food boxes to 100 beneficiaries, out of 590 in Indonesia.
Since 2013, this programme has benefited over 100,000 underprivileged families, including the elderly, single mothers, persons with disabilities, with a total aid distributed reaching almost RM16 million.
“Maybank Islamic is not only committed to providing Shariah-compliant financial solutions for all segments of society through products and services but also through social initiatives to assist communities in the area where the Maybank Group operates,” Shahrizan said in his speech.
He said anchored on Maybank Group’s mission to humanise financial services, it strives to build community resilience across ASEAN and undertake responsive actions to promote economic development and social wellbeing and improve the lives of 2 million households across ASEAN by 2025.
Jakarta was chosen as location of the symbolic event venue due to the presence of Maybank’s business here.
“Since 2017 when we expanded the programme to include Indonesia, nearly 13,000 families in Indonesia have received our contribution valued more than RM2.4 million. We sincerely hope that this small aid from us to some extent can alleviate their financial burden in the month of Ramadhan and bring joy to the beneficiaries,” Shahrizan further added.
Maybank Islamic collaborated with four humanitarian partners, namely Islamic Aid Malaysia (IAM), Islamic Relief Malaysia, MERCY Malaysia, and Yayasan Ikhlas to organise this programme.
This year, Maybank Islamic has allocated almost RM36 million for corporate social responsibility initiatives, with some portion of it to be channelled towards the community in Indonesia through various social impact programmes.
