The interrelationship of COVID-19 towards financial services sector: evidence from Malaysia / Nur Fatehah Mohamed Nawi

With the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid- 19) pandemic that started in the city of Wuhan, China back in December 2019, the government of Malaysia announced a movement control order (MCO) after there were local active cases recorded in March 2020. Many parties got affected by the MCO implementation from the shutdown of small-medium enterprise (SME) to people were prohibited in travelling to workplace. These shocks had given a huge impact to many industries in Malaysia, mainly towards financial services sector. Banks have their hands full in light of the pandemic *Since borrowers and businesses are likely to start seeking financial relief due to job losses, slowed sales, and declining profits. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had taken an initiative as one of the efforts to ensure Malaysia's financial stability by generating moratorium for borrowers, those who got affected financially due to the Covid-19 lockdowns. This in turn has affected the volatility of financial services sector. This article focuses on the interrelationship of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, China, and the United States, as well as Malaysia's non-performing loan, towards financial services sector in Malaysia. From the findings of this research, all independent variables have positive relationship and significant to the dependent variable which was proven by the p-value resulted less than 5% level of significance.