Banks Pivotal In Supporting Malaysia's Growth, Extending Credit Facilities To Business, Households

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- Banks have been pivotal in supporting the country's growth by extending credit facilities to businesses and households, and will continue to do so in keeping with the level of economic activities. In a statement Tuesday, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) said, commercial banks were always active in the business of lending and viable businesses would continue to be able to obtain financing. On recent news reports that banks had limited capacity to lend more, ABM said commercial banks were still committed to support businesses and corporates. "Business which face challenges in their loan applications are encouraged to discuss with their financiers when making the suitability and affordability assessments for any facility they apply for. "Corporates and entrepreneurs are urged to shop around for a financing package which best meets their needs," it said. ABM said that banks were committed to enhance their capability to support businesses and entrepreneurs which included the offering of various loan packages to meet the needs of innovative enterprises. The association said the local banking system's liquidity remained healthy as the sector's Basel III liquidity coverage ratio stood at 125 per cent as at December last year. "The sector's loan-to-deposit ratio is also robust at 89.9 per cent with the level of net impaired loans sustained at 1.2 per cent of net loans, and loans coverage ratio at 90.2 per cent as at December 2016," it said. --BERNAMA