Malaysian banks hike salaries by up to 12% for 20,000 employees

Banks also have to grant 0% interest for the first $24,414 in staff housing loan.

The Malayan Commercial Banks’ Association (MCBA) announced that twenty Malaysian banks will be raising employee salaries by 10-12% for around 20,000 clerical and non-clerical staff, reports New Straits Times.

The salary adjustment, which is set to manifest by end-January on employee payroll, comes after the signing of a new collective agreement (CA) from January 1, 2018 to December 30, 2020.

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Member banks are also urged to raise the starting salary for different employee groups as stated in the CA by 12-16%.

Additionally, members banks have agreed to grant 0% interest rate for the first $24,414 (RM100,000) staff housing loan effective April 1, 2019 in line with the government-led push to increase home ownership amongst low income communities.

“These existing benefits are designed to cover a wide range of items catering to employees’ needs at different stages of life, such as 10 working days for marriage leave, reimbursement of delivery charges up to $366.27 (RM1,500) for two confinements and many more,” said MCBA president Nora Abd Manaf.

MCBA member banks include Affin Bank Berhad, Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad, Bangkok Bank Berhad, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad, Bank of America Malaysia Berhad, MUFG Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, CIMB Bank Berhad, Citibank Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Hong Leong Bank Berhad, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad, Malayan Banking Berhad, OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Public Bank Berhad, RHB Bank Berhad, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad, The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad and United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad.