KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Bank Bhd is on track to exceed its RM50bil commitment made to the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in 2024.
CIMB Group
commercial and transaction banking co-chief executive officer Ahmad Shazli Kamarulzaman said the bank has been committed towards supporting the development of local SMEs since 2019.
“And this year, we are on track to achieve this commitment,” he told the media after the signing ceremony between the bank and Credit Guarantee Corp Malaysia Bhd (CGC) here yesterday.
CIMB and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd have entered into a partnership with CGC to offer an additional RM1.5bil for SMEs through the latter’s portfolio guarantee scheme.
Ahmad Shazli said the partnership would bring CIMB Bank’s current working-capital financing figure to RM6.5bil, which would be used to help SMEs with financing for adopting environment, social and governance (ESG) standards, digitalisation, as well as investing in strategic technology.
“Our bank enters a new era with financing schemes that are targeted to focus on increased adoption of new technologies, ESG principles, automation, research and development (R&D), as well as human capital and talent development,” Ahmad Shazli said.
He added that the additional RM1.5bil is only the “tip of the iceberg” and the bank would be looking into providing more tranches in the future.
“We will not do RM20mil just up front, instead we will do it in tranches. But this is only a small bit. We expect to do a lot more, and we will come up with different products as well,” he added.
CIMB group commercial and transaction banking co-chief executive Lawrence Loh said, beyond financing, the bank also aimed to educate and enable SMEs to compete in the evolving business landscape, which mostly involves digitalisation.
He said that there have been many instances where SMEs struggled due to not engaging in digitalisation.
“So this is something that we want to work together with all SMEs, together with CGC, to educate all businesses to move forward.
“We have also invested significantly in a new platform to improve our customer journey, which will be launched in the coming months ahead,” he said during the event.
Also present at the signing was CGC chief executive Datuk Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak, who said CGC looked forward to further strengthening its relationship with CIMB.
“Over the last 10 years, we have done over 36 tranches totalling more than RM5bil, and we will do more for the SMEs,” Mohd Zamree said.
On a separate note, he said he believed allocations for SMEs would continue, but may instead be more targeted in the upcoming Budget 2025.
“I cannot speak for the SMEs or the government, but in the past, the government has been very supportive of SMEs and the trend will continue, however, I think it will be more targeted. To me, support must be given but it should be given to those who need it,” he pointed out.
