Agrobank won't impose additional profit charges during six-month automatic moratorium

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Pertanian Malaysia Bhd (Agrobank) said it won't impose any additional profit charges on all eligible customers during the six-month automatic moratorium period.

It is believed Agrobank, one of the largest development financial institution, is one of the first to announce the waiver on fixed rate loans.

“Agrobank is committed to relieving our customers’ distress during these trying times. Therefore, for our Fixed Rate financing customers especially the micro financing customers, there would be no change in the current amount of outstanding and profits borne by our customers,” covering president/ chief executive officer Khadijah Iskandar said in a statement today.

She said the bank's customers will pay the same monthly repayment amount from October 2020 onwards, but the financing tenure will be extended to another six-month to accommodate the six-month grace period during the automatic moratorium.

This followed the announcement by Bank Negara, fixed-rate Islamic financing may come with additional profit charges after the six-month moratorium that is effective from April 1 to Sept 30 this year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is an unfortunate situation which has affected businesses including those in agriculture industry particularly small and micro businesses. This move will benefit many of our micro financing customers. Agrobank is committed to support our customers in strengthening their business during this trying time,” Khadijah said.

The bank hopes that the announcement will be able to provide them further relief from their financing obligations and help them weather the other challenges they may be facing.

Agrobank also said that the payment deferment is still automatic for its customers and no additional steps required for the customers to entitle from the automatic moratorium facility.

However, for customers who do not wish to take up the moratorium can still choose to do so at this time by filling up a form on www.agrobank.com.my/no-mora and resuming their scheduled payments based on the terms of their existing agreements.