Finance minister: Bank Negara needs to improve communication

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said that Bank Negara should improve its communication with customers to avoid confusion.

According to an Astro Awani report, Tengku Zafrul told the press at an event in Bangi this morning that yesterday's statement over the change in procedure for the six-month loan moratorium for hire-purchase (HP) agreements and fixed-rate Islamic financing repayments had led to some misunderstanding.

"There is a misunderstanding in the FAQ posted by Bank Negara. Also, the illustrations provided are confusing.

"But there is no difference in the provisions," he said.

"Regardless, the customer will have to pay the interest later on, there is no case of there not being any interest.

"This morning Bank Negara has clarified and I think they have made it clear (in their FAQ) that the interest is still accrued but not compounded," he said.

"I hope that communication between banks and customers will be improved," he told reporters at the Menara Hasil Bangi this morning.

Bank Negara had said yesterday that additional documentation would be required to defer HP and fixed-rate Islamic financing repayments.

This comes after its March 25 announcement that there would be an “automatic” moratorium on all loan and financing repayments.

The announcement yesterday had led to speculation that requiring borrowers to sign additional documentation opened the doors for banks to charge additional interest for deferring HP and fixed-rate Islamic loans.

This had caused a wave of brickbats against the announcement among netizens, who began to criticise Tengku Zafrul over the change in procedure, using the hashtag #BankerJagaBanker on Twitter.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general J Solomon even called the move inhumane, while former minister Azalina Othman took a jab at Tengku Zafrul saying: "This is (what happens) when the finance minister is not a people's representative but a representative of the bank?" - Mkini