• Reduction in interest rates will help Borrowers recover and rebuild their financial buffers
• The Bank continues to be focused on helping individuals and businesses with financial assistance where needed to shore up cashflows or alleviate financial pressures for those affected by the health pandemic and current economic situation

Kuala Lumpur, 08 July 2020: Hong Leong Bank Berhad (“HLB”) and Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad (“HLISB”) will be reducing the Base Rate (“BR”) and Islamic Base Rate (“IBR”) to 2.63% from 2.88% following the latest reduction in Bank Negara Malaysia’s Overnight Policy Rate (“OPR”) by 25 bps.

Similarly, loans and financing based on the Base Lending Rate (“BLR”) and Islamic Financing Rate (“IFR”) will be lowered to 5.64% from 5.89%. The board rates of its fixed deposits will be revised lower by 25 bps as well.

All rate changes will be effective from 10 July 2020.

While the various stages of the Movement Control Orders (“MCO”) have managed to successfully flatten the COVID-19 curve in our country, the pandemic and its economic effects remain a threat for the foreseeable future as the country navigates through the road to recovery.

Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB said, “While restrictions have eased with business and social activities moving back towards pre-MCO period, the journey to recovery and rebuilding resiliency in the business and household sectors will take some time. Cash flow remains a serious concern especially for certain sections of the business community and households which are continuing to deal with a heavy blow to their finances amidst the weaker economy, job losses and employment prospects.”

“On the positive side, we are encouraged by the reasonable recovery we are seeing in business activities since the RMCO, both within our corporate and SME clients. However, the recovery is not even and there are some businesses and households that continue to experience cashflow issues. This further reduction in interest rates will provide additional stimulus to accelerate the pace of the economic recovery in the second half of 2020.”