Sabah, Sarawak floods: Banks offer relief to affected customers with loan deferments, additional financing

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — Various banks, including Public Bank Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd and OCBC Bank (M) Bhd, have come forward to offer assistance to their loan and financing customers who are affected by the floods in Sabah and Sarawak.

Public Bank, Public Islamic Bank, Hong Leong Bank (HLB) and Hong Leong Islamic Bank are deferring monthly instalments for loan and financing for up to six months for facilities such as credit cards for affected individuals, as well as small and medium enterprise (SME) loan and financing for affected businesses.

In a statement, Public Bank also announced that an immediate collaboration has been made with the group’s subsidiary Lonpac Insurance Bhd for fast processing of claims by the affected customers on losses covered by insurance policies underwritten by Lonpac.

HLB and Hong Leong Islamic Bank are also going the extra mile. They said that for their existing SME and micro-enterprise customers, additional financing will be made available to those who require working capital to facilitate their business recovery as a result of the floods.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Malaysia offers temporary deferment or suspension of loan/financing payment obligations (principal and interest/profit) for three or six months. However, interest/profit will continue to accrue on the deferred payments and be capitalised into the principal amount after the deferment period ends.

In its statement, the bank said affected clients also have the option to pay only the interest of monthly instalments for six months.

All these five banks also said they are waiving charges for the replacement of bank-related documents and cards damaged or lost in the floods.

Meanwhile, OCBC Bank (M) Bhd, together with its Islamic banking subsidiary OCBC Al-Amin Bank Bhd, said their flood relief assistance programme provides “options for affected customers to manage their repayments to ease their constraints during their time of need.”

“All requests will be prioritised and attended to on a case-by-case basis with a view to determining what works best for the customer,” they said.

Public Bank managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Dr Tay Ah Lek said the bank remains committed to alleviating the financial burden of customers affected by the floods.

Standard Chartered Malaysia CEO Mak Joon Nien said “in times of crisis, it is our collective responsibility to stand together and support those affected.”

OCBC Bank (M) chief executive officer Tan Chor Sen said OCBC Malaysia is committed to supporting any customer who is adversely affected by the floods and is calling on them to remain positive during these challenging times.

For more information, affected customers can visit the respective banks’ branches or contact them by phone.

For Public Bank, the general line is (03)2170 8000, while HLB/Hong Leong Islamic Bank customers can call (03)7959 1888 to request for flood relief assistance.

Standard Chartered Malaysia’s client care centre can be contacted at 1300 888 888 (within Malaysia) or +603 7711 8888 (outside Malaysia).

OCBC Malaysia’s dedicated consumer hotline for individuals is (03)8317 5011, while SME and microenterprise customers may call (03)8317 5200.

Meanwhile, Public Bank said that for insurance claims-related matters, affected customers can contact Lonpac at (03)2262 8688.

HLB said that SME and corporate customers are encouraged to contact their relationship managers for assistance. — Bernama