Hi, just wanted to get some opinions here:

Is it now normal for a car rental company to insist on knowing the renter's employment details (employer, occupation, business card) ? As in making it compulsory to provide this info in order to rent a car.

For context, this is for a rental out of Kuching, and its a local company, not one of the big players like Hertz or Avis. And this is a personal rental over a long weekend, not under company name or account.

Last time I rented there was more than 5 years ago and there was no such requirement. I have also rented more recently out of other places like KLIA, Penang and Langkawi without such request.

Wondering if there is any rationale for this requirement 

Yah, unfortunately none of that extra requirement was stated on their website when I booked.

After collecting the deposit, they sent me text messages with the "compulsory information" required to rent the car.
Basically if I don't provide the info, they won't confirm the rental. And they won't refund the deposit either according to their T&Cs.

Nice way to do business...