And, as banks everywhere delve deeper into digitisation, Bank Rakyat hopes to catch up. It has invested in a core banking system that will go “live” in June, after which it can roll out a host of digital initiatives, including a mobile banking app that it hopes to launch early next year.
(Feb 20): The next five years will be crucial for Bank Rakyat as it looks to keep itself relevant amid a fast-changing landscape that will also see rival development financial institutions (DFI) merging in order to compete better.
In a bid to grow more sustainably, the country’s largest DFI — and the second largest Islamic lender after Maybank Islamic — plans to further reduce its reliance on personal financing (PF) while accelerating its financing to cooperatives and SMEs.
