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Section 03 Connecting Prospects
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2020 IN FOCUS
With clients from various sectors and industries, EXIM Bank offers trade financing,
credit insurance and advisory services to many cross-border businesses in the
country. However, the defensive closure of borders for the most of 2020 meant that Operating revenue for
the Bank’s cross-border financing operations were affected. Collaborations secured FY2020 amounted to
early in the year, such as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Thai
and Malaysian institutions to promote SMEs on both sides of the border could not
take off as planned during the year. RM181.49

Despite the challenging economic environment, we continue to engage with business MILLION
communities to generate loan applications and successfully generated RM23.5 million
in recovery income and reduced our impaired loan amount by RM261.14 million.

These turnaround efforts from the Bank ensured sustainable operating revenue, Recovery income
which together with reduction in interest expense and allowances, helped EXIM for the year was
Bank buoy back to profitability. Even though EXIM Bank’s total assets and gross
loans and financing dropped by 9% and 18% respectively, and operating revenue for
the year reduced to RM181.49 million from RM381.13 million in FY2019; operating RM23.48
profit was RM150.83 million compared to FY2019’s RM142.5 million, bringing profit
before tax and zakat to RM51.15 million after FY2019’s loss before tax and zakat of MILLION
RM478.25 million. Contribution from our Islamic Banking business also continued to
grow and represented 48.6% of operating revenue this year.
At the same time, the Bank intensified efforts to minimise impairment by providing Interest expense
options for moratorium for eligible borrowers and negotiations to regain payment on reduced approximately
asset recovery. This is a continuous commitment as the current challenging operating to 19% derived at
landscape may put further pressure on the Bank’s asset quality.
RAM Ratings (RAM) and Moody continue to reaffirm the Bank’s AAA/Stable/P1 RM115.47
and A3/Stable rating respectively. For RAM, the reaffirmation is underpinned by MILLION
the Malaysia government’s support and mandate given to the Bank to advance
the country’s trade agenda and support the outward investments of domestic firms.

BOLSTERING SUPPORT Profit before tax and
zakat improved 111% to
The widespread implications of the COVID-19 outbreak mean exporters and
importers face disruptions to their businesses – from ships being trapped at ports, RM51.15
workers quarantined, to travel restrictions; all of which pose financial challenges
to the Bank’s clients. As the Development Financial Institution (DFI) of the country MILLION
mandated to promote cross-border trade, EXIM Bank is committed to bolster
support and drive resilience among our clients by offering assistance to those
financially impacted by the pandemic. During the year, along with loan moratoriums,
the Bank’s relationship managers worked hard to explore ways to ease affected
clients’ financial obligations with the Bank on a case-to-case basis. More details on the Bank’s
financial performance is
By embracing the PENJANA programme and its theme of “Resilient As One, available on page 79.
Together We Triumph”, EXIM Bank’s operations were re-strategised to support and
assist SME players through “JanaNiaga”. The RM300 million JanaNiaga initiative
is led by EXIM Bank, with the involvement of several financial institutions. The
programme allows vendors of government and government-linked entities to obtain
inclusive financing at an attractive rate to support them to continue operations,
with an uninterrupted ability to supply to their customers. Thus far, we have laid the
groundwork for the JanaNiaga platform and are moving ahead with all the parties
involved to make this a reality.