KUALA LUMPUR: AMMB Holdings Bank Bhd’s (AmBank) has stepped up its ongoing efforts in providing relief to customers affected by the movement control order (MCO) that was recently re-implemented.
AmBank said its efforts align with the government’s targeted repayment assistance initiative, which the government announced under the Pemerkasa Plus financial aid package.
Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said AmBank would continue to assist customers through the repayment assistance packages and the rescheduling and restructuring plans that meet their respective needs.
As of March 31, 2021, Sulaiman said the bank had extended approximately RM15.2 billion in repayment assistance for loans and financing for all customer segments and approved close to 100 per cent of these applications.
“We aim to extend this service further, up to December 31, 2021, and are also conscious of the need to review the potential of granting further extensions, if need be, in light of MCO 3.0,” he said.
Sulaiman said that AmBank would proactively engage with customers via relationship managers to extend their trade bills by one cycle to cushion the cash flow impact further.
“We would like to urge customers to reach out to us to discuss repayment assistance, and at the same time, the bank will also continue to engage with our customers, especially those in the affected industries,” he said.
Ambank will extend the repayment assistance to all customers who have experienced the loss of employment, B40 who are recipients of the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) or Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) and any microenterprise (with approved loan/financing facilities of less than RM150,000).
Meanwhile, SMEs and microenterprises that are not allowed to operate during the MCO (locked-down sectors) will also be eligible for the repayment assistance with the choice of a payment deferment for three months or a reduction of monthly instalments by 50 per cent for a period of six months.
In addition to this, all individual loan and financing customers who have suffered a reduction in income will be offered a lower monthly instalment payment plan, which corresponds with the reduction in their income.
For customers who are not eligible for any of the above-mentioned schemes or require other forms of assistance, the bank is also providing repayment assistance that suits these customers’ financial needs.
Source: News Straits Times
