Alliance Bank group chief SME, commercial and transaction banking officer Raymond Chui (centre) flanked by award organisers at The Asian Banker’s Global Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2024 awards gala in Seoul, South Korea recently where Alliance Bank received the Best SME Bank in Malaysia recognition.
KUALA LUMPUR: Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd
won the "Best Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Bank in Malaysia” by The Asian Banker’s Global Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2024, and The Digital Banker’s Global SME Banking Innovation Awards 2024 recently.
The banking group said the awards served as a recognition for the bank’s continuous development of banking and non-banking solutions to help SMEs grow and enhance their business resilience.
According to Alliance Bank, its SME and commercial banking segments charted significant loan growth last year, with its SME loans growing by 16.4 per cent, and commercial banking loans increasing by 14.2 per cent year-on-year as of the end of 2023, outpacing the industry growth rates.
"The bank continues to increase our SME loan market share to over five per cent from 3.4 per cent (previously), with SME and commercial banking segment contributing almost 40 per cent to the overall business," it said in a statement.
Alliance Bank also made history by being the only Malaysian bank shortlisted for the Qorus SME Banking Awards 2024, eventually taking the gold for its SME environmental, social and governance (ESG) solution, namely the Sustainability Impact Programme (SIP).
"The programme is augmented via strategic partnerships with Bursa Malaysia, the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation and the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei to provide SMEs with capacity building, practical ESG diagnostic assessments and roadmaps, whilst facilitating their transition to sustainable business practices via our green financing solutions,” it said.
Group chief executive officer Kellee Kam said the achievement underscored the bank’s dedication to fostering SMEs’ growth and its commitment to delivering outstanding services tailored to customers’ evolving needs.
The bank’s group chief SME, commercial and transaction banking officer Raymond Chui said Alliance Bank’s momentum in the SME segment is driven by its commitment to provide differentiated solutions alongside superior customer service to help customers in their business roadmap.
Chui said for the year ahead, his team will continue to focus on increasing the productivity of its sales team, developing new channels for lead generation and enhancing its digital propositions to continue its momentum in the SME segment. - Bernama
