KUALA LUMPUR – The Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), with the cooperation of banking institutions, are working towards expanding the mobile bank initiative, with the additional units expected to be operational from the fourth quarter of this year, reported Bernama.
Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa said the government had allocated RM18 million for the initiative as announced under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (PEMULIH) on June 28, 2021.
“The government has earmarked the amount for local financial institutions to provide 30 units of mobile bank in 250 sub-districts (mukim) across Malaysia that have been identified as having no or inadequate access to basic banking services,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.
He was replying to a question from Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti) on the government’s efforts towards the provision of automated teller machines (ATMs) especially in rural areas.
Yamani said the installation of ATMs, whether in urban or rural areas, was the prerogative of the banking industry.
The banks would consider various factors, including maintenance cost and level of usage, to justify the installation of ATMs in any given area, he explained.
He also said that since April 2020, the RM1 fee for ATM cash withdrawal had been temporarily waived to make it easier for people to withdraw money from any ATM.
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