CIMB Bank, CIMB Islamic's three pillars to grow SMEs

Victor Lee Meng Teck, CEO, Group Commercial Banking, CIMB Group (front, centre); Ahmad Shazli Kamarulzaman, Deputy CEO, Group Commercial Banking, CIMB Group (front, right); Yew Teik Beng, Head, Business Banking Malaysia, Group Commercial Banking (front, left); (2nd row L-R) Alice Wong, Head, Regional Digital & Ecosystem, Group Commercial Banking; KJ Balan, Head, SME Banking Malaysia, Group Commercial Banking; and Tan Guan Leong, Head, Medium Enterprise Malaysia, Group Commercial Banking introducing CIMB’s refreshed SME business proposition in conjunction with Bank Negara Malaysia’s SME Month.

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Bank Bhd and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd unveiled the refreshed SME business proposition on Wednesday to provide customers with a complete suite of solutions that go beyond banking.

The banking group added it was on track to disburse RM15bil to SMEs in 2019 and 2020 after providing RM3.9bil to Malaysian SMEs in January to June this year.

In a statement, it said the refreshed SME business proposition was anchored on three pillars of SME Transact, SME Financing and SME Partners.

SME Transact includes cash management services; reward opportunities of up to 2% per annum with CIMB Islamic business current account; and fee waivers on online business banking.

As for SME Financing, the examples are no-collateral and business property financing.

SME Partners encompasses various services from logistics, workspace and connectivity, to digital, e-commerce, as well as accounting and HR solutions in the pipeline, offered by CIMB partners.

Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz, group CEO, CIMB Group pointed out that banks had a responsibility to grow the SMEs and help them expand their contribution to the economy.

“With SMEs currently contributing more than one third of Malaysia’s GDP, banks have a responsibility to grow this sector, and to support the National Entrepreneurship Policy’s objective to have SMEs contribute 50% to the GDP by 2030, ” he said.

Zafrul said CIMB had a greater insight of its customers, their pain points and how best to transform their journey with CIMB.

“Hence, the three pillars in our new SME proposition represent all the support that our SME customers need, not just in financing, but also in terms of business solutions that support their growth.

“Beyond financing, our support comprises knowledge-sharing and strategic partnerships, so that SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs can develop and scale up systematically.”

To enable SMEs to scale up regionally, CIMB’s partnership with Axiata Digital Capital provided 700,000 SMEs in Malaysia and Indonesia with access to financing solutions.

CIMB was also working with CapBridge Pte Ltd to facilitate SMEs’ capital raising by CIMB.

As the world’s demand for halal products and services far outstrip supply, CIMB said its strong global network and well-established Asean-China Halal Corridor provided SMEs the launching pad to access the halal market.

CIMB also said in collaboration with Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC), CIMB Islamic had allocated RM2bil unsecured Shariah financing; as well as micro financing to small business owners via the imSME, Malaysia’s first SME financing/loan referral platform, managed by CGC.

Customers now have access to micro financing via imSME at 10 selected branches from September onwards with the aim of making this available nationwide by year-end.

“As an Asean multinational with a strong regional footprint, we are well-positioned to support SMEs that wish to take advantage of this market with its 648-million population, ” Zafrul said.