Strategic priorities: (From left) Agrobank chief strategy officer Mohamad Taufik Mahamad Zakaria, Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah and chief business officer Syed Hairul Anuar Syed Fadzil at the Agrobank Iftar, 2024 Performance Review and 2025 Outlook event.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Pertanian Malaysia Bhd, or also known as Agrobank, aims to achieve RM12bil in financing disbursement with an increase in net financing growth of up to RM1.6bil in 2025.
President and chief executive officer Datuk Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah Raja Hussin said the bank will be focusing on self-sufficiency level segments, including the automation, ruminant, as well as the micro industries.
“From our discussions with the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, we are in the process of changing the dependency of the fisheries sector to aquaculture. Currently, the ratio stands at 60:40 in favour of fish capture, but by 2030, the goal is to reverse this to 40:60,” he said as aquaculture was added to be among the key focus areas.
The bank also targets to provide RM220mil in financing for micro small and medium enterprises and RM600mil for the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector.
“For the SME sector, we will cap the maximum financing to be not more than RM5mil, following the government’s definitions. Anything above RM30mil, we will consider for corporate financing,” he told the media at the Agrobank 2024 Performance Review and 2025 Outlook event on Wednesday.
In 2024, Agrobank reached a record-high in financing disbursement of RM10.44bil with a recorded performance across all sectors. The number of disbursements recorded has shown a growth of up to 25.46% year-on-year (y-o-y), surpassing 2023’s growth of 15.97%.
Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah attributed the outstanding performance to three of its major business segments – namely the SME, Ar-Rahnu and micro segments.
The SME segment had seen an increase to RM547.68mil, which was 161.08% above the target, while Ar-Rahnu had increased to RM186.92mil, above by 155.76% of the target.
The micro segment jumped to RM181.21mil, also above target by 100.67%.
“Our deposit balance also showed healthy growth to RM13.25bil, the highest in five years.
“Our strong performance in deposit taking activities is reflected in our current account savings account ratio, which stood at 44% over total deposits, outperforming the banking industry’s average at 31%,” he said.
Additionally, the bank’s total income was noted to have maintained its positive trajectory – reaching RM1.26bil with 9.32% y-o-y growth.
He attributed the achievement towards the steady growth in financing and ancillary income from investments, recovery efforts as well as fee-based incomes, of which all have seen an increase by 22.8%, 9.67% and 9.95%, respectively.
On a separate note, he said Agrobank continues to be active in empowering communities through financial inclusion.
A major milestone highlighted by Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah was the operationalisation of Agrobank’s first subsidiary, Agro Captive Takaful Ltd and the launch of the Takaful padi scheme in September 2024 – of which he said is necessary to meet the protection needs of padi farmers.
Other significant events in 2024 include the funding of RM100mil for high-growth bumiputra companies via a strategic collaboration with Unite Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera under the Bumiputra Expansion and Catalyst Fund, as well as programmes under the Agrobank Centre of Excellence. On top of that, he shared that 10.23 million transactions valued at RM10.53bil in digital transactions were recorded in 2024, over the span of three years, following the bank’s educational campaign in promoting digital literacy.
“As an example, Agrobank’s AGRONetBIZ recorded 890,000 transactions, which is a 32% increase.
“Meanwhile the transaction value of QR, a payment of services, soared to 4.16 million, which is a 247% growth.
“In addition, we have exceeded several targets, namely the implementation of DuitNow QR, AgroCash-i, deposits as well as takaful transactions,” he said.
Moving forward into 2025, Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah said Agrobank will continue to play a key role as the nation’s agricultural development financial institution by charting the path to drive agricultural growth and resilience through innovative financial solutions, digital transformation and sustainable agricultural practices.
He stated that Agrobank will expand initiatives to stimulate the modernisation of the agricultural sector through affordable financial solutions and programmes that encourage the use of smart agricultural technology, precision farming systems and Industry 4.0.
He added that the bank will also strengthen its commitment to financial inclusion, support the transition of the agricultural sector toward more sustainable activities and integrate climate risk assessments into its core lending practices, thus attracting and developing talent to advance Agrobank’s development agenda in the agricultural sector.
“Through these strategic priorities, Agrobank aims to catalyse a more resilient, inclusive and technology-driven agricultural sector while ensuring environmental stewardship and community development remain central to our mission,” he added.
