Business

Saturday July 4, 2009

Bank Islam targets RM1bil housing loans


KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Islam Bhd is targeting to approve RM1bil worth of home financing and refinancing in its financial year ending June 30, 2010.

“For the first six months of this year, we have captured over RM600mil in home financing,” managing director Datuk Zukri Samat told reporters after launching the “Sinar Letrik Home Campaign” in collaboration with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) yesterday.

He said that while the Sinar Letrik initiative would help ease the financial commitments of its customers, it would also spur the bank’s home financing business.

He said the bank’s financing for the housing sector was expected to grow 10% this year, in tandem with the industry growth of 8% to 10%.

Zukri said the bank had targeted to approve RM250mil worth of home financing and refinancing with the three-month campaign until September.

Under the initiative, the bank will reimburse the electricity bills of new home financing customers for five consecutive years. “The amount to be reimbursed is based on the scale of financing and upon completion of the properties,” he said.

Customers can apply for financing or refinancing of between RM150,000 and RM200,000 to be entitled for the reimbursement.

Meanwhile, TNB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said the campaign was running parallel to its effort in promoting automatic payment, such as auto-pay and direct debit.

He said as at end-May about 135,000 TNB customers had registered for auto-pay and direct debit while 260,000 made payments online and 333,000 through automated teller machines.

Malaysia had one of the most competitive tariff rates, he said. “Our tariff rates are quite competitive compared with Thailand and Singapore and considered one of the cheapest in the region.”

On TNB’s plan to implement the first nuclear plant by 2025, he said it would only proceed after 2020. “We have to assess whether we are ready, whether we have the right people to operate the plants. We are not just going to bulldoze our way,” he said.

On whether TNB had identified which of its non-core assets to divest, he said: “We have sold more than 10 of them already. We are quite lean now.”

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story