Covering President/ Chief Executive Officer Agrobank  
 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Agrobank remains committed in supporting the development of the socioeconomic status of Malaysians, through various initiatives and entrepreneurship programmes developed specifically to revive the economy and businesses of those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Khadijah Iskandar, Covering President/Chief Executive Officer of Agrobank said, as a Developmental Financial Institution (DFI), the Bank’s focus is to strengthen the agricultural sector and continue to develop Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), including the unserved and underserved communities, the B40 group, women, the disabled and asnaf through the many social development programmes designed by Agrobank, to ensure well-being fate of these communities continues to be guarded and defended. 

“We stand firm with our principles and stay alert on their situation to strongly support the difficulties faced by our customers, especially our micro entrepreneurs and the SMEs, as well as Malaysians in general through various entrepreneurship and community development programmes which are held through our strategic collaborations at Agrobank. 

“This is to ensure these communities continue to be supported and able to improve their current socio-economic status, especially during this transition period when the country’s COVID-19 staus is moving towards an endemic,” she said this in her response to a statement by YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Aziz, Minister of Finance, recently.

Tengku Zafrul, through the statement called for DFI’s to provide full support to the country during the recovery period by playing a strategic and important role to restore and preserve business capacity while providing various opportunities.

Khadijah said, in line with the #KeluargaMalaysia spirit, Agrobank supports the Finance Minister’s statement that carries the essence of the Bank's renewed vision of Empowering Agriculture Beyond Banking which is to focus more on advancing and pursuing the socio-economic development of the community, especially to ensure the well-being and future of the unserved and the underserved communities continue to be given attention. 

According to Khadijah, Agrobank has helped many entrepreneurs through the Micro Credit Financing Fund amounting to RM350 million through the PENJANA plan to the agro based communities that are affected by COVID-19, the fund was channelled through Agrobank in June 2020. 

“As of 31 July 2021, Agrobank has approved a total financing of RM200.4 million under the PENJANA Agrofood Fund plan which involved about 16,000 entrepreneurs from the agro-based communities,” she said. 

The allocation has been channelled to assist micro entrepreneurs involved in the agrofood sector, from the B40 groups which were affected by the Movement Control Order (PKP) to assist in their business operations costs and as working capital for their businesses, to ensure the viability of their business were not interrupted.

Khadijah said, Agrobank is all ears to guide through its customers and difficulties faced by Malaysians during this testing period and will try its best in offering the best solution because the impact of COVID-19 is certainly not easy for all walks of life either they are from the B40, M40 or T20 groups. 

ABOUT AGROBANK

Agrobank is a leader in agriculture financing and values-based banking based (VBI)* in Malaysia. Established in 1969, Agrobank is actively involved in charting the growth and development of Malaysia’s agriculture industry by offering shariah compliant products and solutions across various customer segments including corporate, commercial, consumer, trade finance and micro financing customers. Agrobank is a full-fledged Islamic bank since 1st July 2015.

As a market driven, customer centric DFI (Development Financial Institution) with a primary focus on strengthening the agriculture sector in Malaysia, Agrobank strikes an equal balance to its developmental and commercial roles to benefit the agriculture sector. Agrobank provides a comprehensive repertoire of financing solutions for the agriculture community; that includes upstream activities related to primary food and commodities-based agriculture activities to downstream activities such as processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products.

Agrobank also offers retail banking financing solutions to improve the well-being of the agriculture community. This is done through its network of 192 customer touch points including 138 branches, 1 agro banking, 1 virtual banking, 10 commercial financing centre, 34 kiosk, 8 agro corners & agro point.  

In 2019, Agrobank celebrates its golden jubilee Anniversary, as it marks 50 years of its proud establishment developing the agro industry.