In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has announced a series of relief measures to look after its retail customers.
It is a multi-pronged initiative that includes deferment on all monthly loans for Bahraini citizens for up to six months. No additional fee or interest will be charged during this period, the NBB confirmed earlier this week. This is applicable to Mazaya loans as well.
Along with that, the NBB has also increased the upper-limit on “Tap&Go” without a PIN to BHD 50 from the earlier BHD 20. NBB customers will benefit from the increase in daily transaction limits on debit cards. Compared to the previous limit of BHD 1,000, NBB debit cardholders can now withdraw up to BHD 2,000 every day until further notice.
Commenting on the initiative, Subah Al-Zayani, CEO of Retail Banking at NBB, said: “In light of the current situation and the difficult circumstances faced by our retail customers who have loans with NBB, we will be deferring all loans, without any additional charges or interest. Monthly installments on all deferred loans will also remain the same”.
He added: “The Bank will be deferring the installments for up to 6 months, starting from March to August of this year.”
In other words, customers will have an additional six months over the original repayment period and the bank will ensure that all monthly installment amounts remain the same.