KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC) have teamed up to provide up to RM2 billion of financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) via CGC’s portfolio guarantee (PG) scheme.
This is the largest ever under the CGC PG scheme to support local SMEs in growing their businesses further.
Maybank head of community financial services Malaysia Datuk Hamirullah Boorhan said the RM2 billion was in addition to the RM1.26 billion approved by the bank in 2014, followed by RM1.1 billion in 2015 and RM1.5 billion in 2016, which was driven by the strong demand from the SME industry.
“Our decision to extend Maybank’s collaboration with CGC for up to RM2 billion is a reflection of our commitment to support the growth of the SME sector in Malaysia which is an integral contributor to the Malaysian economy.”
“As at end 2017, Maybank became the largest PG partner in the SME market with a total disbursement of close to RM3.78 billion and benefitting more than 8,000 customers nationwide.
“Currently, in the first quarter of 2018, I am happy to say that we have surpassed the RM4 billion PG disbursement mark and we are confident that the numbers will increase,” he said in a statement today.
Under the scheme, SMEs can apply for either Islamic or Conventional financing facilities from Maybank, from a minimum of RM50,000 up to a maximum of RM1.5 million and for a fixed tenure of up to seven years. Seventy per cent of the principal financing amount will be guaranteed by CGC.
Maybank also offers other non-financing services to ensure SME players remain competitive and continuously appraised of growth opportunities.
“Among these non-financial services include advisory services, training roadshows and capacity building programmes such as the ‘Building Capacity & Capability for SMEs’ programme,” Hamirullah explained.
“This programme is part of our efforts to ensure SMEs are able to leverage opportunities within the rapidly changing business environment.
“The Building Capacity & Capability for SMEs has reached out to more than 3,500 participants since it was launched in 2014. This year the program is continuing at eight locations nationwide between April and November,” he added.
Zamree thanked Maybank for being one of CGC’s top supporters for the imSME initiative.
imSME is Malaysia’s first online SME Financing/Loan referral platform that is designed to simplify the process of searching for financing/loan for SMEs from 15 FIs and DFIs and was launched in February this year.
Zamree said that the response for imSME was encouraging as over 40,000 visitors had visited imSME to-date.