Agrobank is a leader in agriculture financing and values-based banking based (VBI)* in Malaysia.
Established in 1969, Agrobank is actively involved in charting the growth and development of Malaysia’s agriculture industry by offering shariah compliant products and solutions across various customer segments including corporate, commercial, consumer, trade finance and micro financing customers. Agrobank is a full-fledged Islamic bank since 1st July 2015.
As a market driven, customer-centric DFI (Development Financial Institution) with a primary focus on strengthening the agriculture sector in Malaysia, Agrobank strikes an equal balance to its developmental and commercial roles to benefit the agriculture sector. Agrobank provides a comprehensive repertoire of financing solutions for the agriculture community; that includes upstream activities related to primary food and commodities-based agriculture activities to downstream activities such as processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products. Agrobank also offers retail banking financing solutions to improve the well-being of the agriculture community. This is done through its network of 192 customer touch points including 138 branches, 1 agro banking, 1 virtual banking, 10 commercial financing centre, 34 kiosk, 8 agro corners & agro point.
In 2019, Agrobank celebrates its golden jubilee Anniversary, as it marks 50 years of its proud establishment developing the agro industry.
* VBI or value-based intermediation is an initiative by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) which aims to improve the products and services offered by Islamic financial institutions towards a better facilitation of entrepreneurship, community well-being, sustainable environment and economic growth, without compromising on shareholders’ returns
Agrobank Inception
Bank Pertanian Malaysia (BPM) was established in 1969 to finance irrigation projects to accommodate double cropping for paddy planting in Kedah and Perlis, known as the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) area.
Subsequent to its establishment to provide credit assistance to farmers, BPM opened two branches, the first in Alor Setar, Kedah in April 1970 and the second in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. By 1980, BPM had emerged as the largest credit service provider to the rural agriculture sector.
Upon the passing of the BPMB Bill on 19 December 2007, BPM was corporatised under the Companies Act 1965 and commercially known as Agrobank, a Government owned bank under the purview of the Minister of Finance Incorporated. Focusing on agriculture, the Bank’s financing of the agriculture sector is guided by policies determined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.
Effective 1 July 2015, Agrobank officially became a full-fledged Islamic bank. The transition to the Islamic banking system is seen as a positive development, based on the rapid growth of the Islamic banking sector in the country. With the transition, Agrobank is now able to provide Islamic banking products and services to fulfill the requirements of the halal food industry. This will in turn further increase investor and consumer confidence in the halal status of Malaysian halal products, given that these are backed by Shariah-compliant business transactions.
