TAIPING, April 29 — Koperasi Co-opbank  Persatuan Malaysia Bhd will be rebranded with a new name – Co-opbank  Pertama Malaysia – to enhance the image and management of the bank in the country.

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the bank would be monitored by his ministry to ensure that it would become a renowned cooperative bank, comparable to Bank Rakyat.

He said the bank, which has 78,389 members and 603 cooperatives,  would be appointed as the manager to manage the savings accounts of all the cooperatives nationwide.

“This is our strategy to help the cooperatives by depositing their savings in this bank, and the bank will assist by providing loans to the cooperatives to implement projects, and they will do this with the cooperation of Bank Rakyat,” he said.

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He said this to reporters after officiating Co-opbank Persatuan’s 59th annual general meeting and signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia and the bank here today.

Under the MoU, Bank Rakyat has been appointed as a mentor to Co-opBank Persatuan to help the latter towards strengthening its capacity and human capital in technical skills and education related to banking especially in risk management.

Meanwhile, Co-opbank  Persatuan Chairman Kamari Zaman Juhari said the bank recorded profits of RM39.7 million in 2017, exceeding its target of RM28 million, compared with RM25.7 million in 2016.

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“The bank’s share capital increased from RM344.6 million as of end-2016 to RM371.5 million in 2017,” he said.

The bank’s assets grew by 38.1 per cent to RM3.15 billion in 2017 compared with RM2.28 billion in 2016, partly from financing and treasury assets particularly deposits with financial institutions.

Deposits jumped 46 per cent to RM2.57 billion in 2017, while savings deposit among individual members amounted to RM139.9 million, or 5.5 per cent of total deposits of RM2.6 billion, he added.

He said this achievement would continue to increase the confidence as well as encourage its members to increase their investments and savings with the bank.

Kamari Zaman said the bank would also introduce various new products such as contract financing, factoring, bank guarantee and Ar Rahnu as well as increase its fee-based income to strengthen its position.

The bank will also open four new branches this year, namely in Batu Pahat (Johor), Kuala Selangor (Selangor), Temerloh (Pahang) and Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan, bringing its total branches to 24. — Bernama