Agro Bank Malaysia

Agrobank,formerly known as Bank Pertanian Malaysia) is an institution which provides holistic financial services and banking facilities such as savings activities, banking services, loan facilities, insurance coverage and advisory services.It is a Government-linked-Company (GLC) under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MFI) with 167 branches all over 14 states of Malaysia. Focusing on agriculture, the bank’s financing of the agricultural sector is driven by a policy set forth by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Vision 1.2 Mission 1.3 Roles and Functions 1.4 Board Members 1.5 Executive Management Team 2 History 3 Products and services 3.1 Personal Banking 3.2 Business Banking 3.3 Agro Banking 4 Rebranding 5 Special Features 6 External links

Background

Vision

To become a leading bank with focus on the agricultural sector.

Mission

The bank will provide financial services holistically according to market demands and customer needs through prudent financial management to:
1. Agro-entrepreneur
2. Micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs
3. Individuals

Roles and Functions

1. Provides financial and banking services with focus to agriculture sector
2. Upgrades and encourages agricultural financing by the commercial banking sector
3. One of the agent for the Government’s development programme
4. The centre of agricultural expertise
5. Provides credit rating for agriculture

Board Members

• Dato' Mohamed Salleh Bajuri (D.P.T.J., S.C.A.)
  

• Datuk Dr. Saharan Haji Anang (P.J.N., D.I.M.P., D.P.M.P., J.M.N., K.M.N., FASc)
  

• Dato' Mohd Hanif Sher Mohamed (D.P.S.N., D.S.M., P.K.T.)
  

• Datuk Dr. Elias Kadir
  

• Datuk Dr. Rahamat Yusoff (P.G.D.K.)
  

• Dato' Mohd. Mokhtar Ismail (D.S.D.K., K.M.N., A.M.K.)
  

Executive Management Team

Acting Managing Director

• Datuk Ahmad bin Said

Chief Corporate Support Officer

• En. Mohamad bin Che Taib

Chief Commercial Officer

• Tuan Haji Ahmad bin Abdul Rahman

Chief Finance Officer

• Pn. Kiswah Mohamad

Chief Risk Officer

• En. Ang Wee Hiong

History

Agrobank was established in 1969 under the Act of the Parliament of Malaysia No.9/69 on September 1 1969 as "A development finance institution directly involved in financing the agriculture sector." It commenced operations on Jan 1st, 1970.

On December 12 2007, Dewan Rakyat (the Lower House of the Parliament) has approved the proposed Bank Pertanian Malaysia 2007 Bill to incorporate Bank Pertanian with a paid-up capital of RM1 billion to enable it to be competitive with other financial institutions and empower it to help develop agriculture as the third engine of growth under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.[1]

The corporatization will enable the bank to offer competitive and comprehensive financial products and venture into new business activities which the bank is currently unable to undertake due to the limitation of the current BPM act. Among the new products and activities will be agriculture, life and general insurance, credit card service, credit guarantee, investment, capital market, internet banking and current account.

On December 19 2007, Dewan Negara (the Upper House) approved the bill.[2]

Products and services

Personal Banking

Savings/deposit

• AgroSavings
• AgroSavings-i (Islamic)
• Fixed Deposit / Investment
• AgroPerdana
• AgroPerdana-i

Loan/financing

• AgroCash (Wawasan Tani)
• AgroCash-i (Bai' Al-Inah)
• Insani Educational Loan
• Hartani-i
• Ar-Rahnu

Other services

• Insurance
• e-Debit
• InterBank Fund Transfer (IBFT)
• Letter of Will (ARB) Sale Service
• Collection Agent For Utility Bills
• Collection Agent For Local Authorities
• Collection Agent For Zakat (Tithe) Payments
• Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
• Remittance-Western Union
• SSPN
• PEYATIM

Business Banking

Special Government Fund

• Entrepreneur Loans Fund Agriculture (DPUP)
• Tabung Untuk Makanan (3F-Fund For Food)
• Skim Tanaman Semula Kelapa Sawit (TASKS)
• Skim Belia Tani -i / Skim Belia Niaga

Loan / Micro Financing

• Modal Usahawan Tani (MUST/MUST-i)
• Micro Economy Stimulus Package (Micro ESP-i)

Credit Guarantee Scheme

• Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Berhad (SJPP)
• Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC)

Agro Banking

Commercial Fund

• Project Loan
• Pinjaman Modal Kerja Kontrak Tani
• Pinjaman Modal Kerja Niaga Tani
• Special Advanced For Fixed Deposit
• Pemfaktoran (Debt Factoring)

Rebranding

The rebranding of Bank Pertanian Malaysia to Agro Bank was done on 8th April 2008. The move is taken as an initiative to make the bank more competitive by fostering a fresher outlook, and enable it to provide a broader range of services to the market and cater the whole segment of the agriculture industry.

An external consultant was deployed to carry out the PR and rebranding exercise for Agrobank, penetrate the market and create awareness among the public. This is aligned with the objective of the new rebranding which is to position the bank as a forward looking, modern and progressive enterprise, and at the same time contribute to the growth and sustenance of agriculture sector in Malaysia.

Special Features

One of the main special feature of the bank is its low amount of entry point to start a personal account and enjoy the privillage of an ATM card. With a minimum of RM20.00 or USD8.20(1 USD = RM3.4), a Malaysian can open up an account. For non-citizen of Malaysia, the minimum amount to open up a personal account will be RM50.00 (USD14.70). Adding up another RM8.00 (USD2.35) allow the customer to own an ATM card with Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS). This feature cater the needs of millions especially medium to lower class citizen and foreign workers in Malaysia.

External links

Official webpage: http://www.agrobank.com.my