Bank Rakyat's Microcredit Loan To Make Debut By March

from Bernama

Bank Rakyat will disburse its first microcredit loan scheme totalling RM50 million by next month or March this year.

Its managing director Datuk Kamaruzaman Che Mat said today the maximum loan for the microcredit loan is RM30,000 per application.

"We are in the process of finalizing the scheme. We are aiming to allocate the loans to cooperative members throughout the country," he told reporters after an agreement signing ceremony with Pos Malaysia Bhd here which was witnessed by Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Khamsiyah Yeop.

Kamaruzaman said that at the moment, six cooperatives related to small businesses had been identified to be involved with the project.

"Our microcredit model is based on collaboration with the cooperatives, and they will act as our collection agent as well as provide guidance and advisory services to their members, who in turn are our borrowers," he said.

Last year, the Finance Ministry identified Bank Rakyat as among the three government-link institutional agencies to undertake the microcredit loan scheme aimed at helping small business players in need of immediate cash.

Its Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin was reported as saying that the move would help to address the problem of loan shark activities which caused mental pressure on borrowers, most of whom were small business players.

Under the agreement signed today, Bank Rakyat and Pos Malaysia formed a partnership to provide a convenient channel for customers to pay their bills and perform other transactions through the PosOnline Internet portal.

The partnership allows Bank Rakyat's account holders, currently at around two million, to gain access to PosOnline by linking the iRakyat payment engine to the PosOnline website.

Bank Rakyat account holders now have access to over 57 "payee corporations" to make payment for their utility bills, telco postpaid bills, instalment payments, zakat and others.

"At the moment, about 2,000 of our customers are using the system since it was unofficially introduced last month," Kamaruzaman said.

"We hope to have 30 percent of our customers base using the system by end of this year," he said.

Kamaruzaman also said that the bank was in the midst of introducing the Ar-Rahnu (Syariah-based pawnbroking) scheme at Pos Malaysia's outlets soon.

"According to the plan, Pos Malaysia will provide us with the premises, but negotiations on other issues such as the right business model and right locations are still not finalized yet," he said.

Pos Malaysia has network of 665 post offices nationwide.