Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, 15 July 2010 – For the first time, Malaysia, a signatory Member Economy of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) through The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) hosted the 7^th Annual Meeting of APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 2010 in Kuala Lumpur today.

The Annual Meeting was attended by ten out of the eleven Member Economies to the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation among APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with SMEs inked in September 2003. With the exception of Philippines, delegates from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and host Member Economy, Malaysia met in a round table forum to review the cooperation among Member Economies in the previous year as well as to discuss future plans for the continued promotion of financial and technical cooperation amongst member financial institutions that deal with SMEs.

“The Annual Meetings are held once a year prior to the APEC Finance Ministers Meeting of the Economies. The deliberations from the Annual Meeting will be reported to the Secretariat of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting,” said Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, Chairman of ABM.

Entitled “SME Development and Financing at the Threshold of the Next Decade – Review, Re-strategize, Revamp”, the 2010 Annual Meeting and Conference is relevant and timely as it underpins the APEC 2010 theme of “Change and Action” to facilitate trade and investment as well as strengthen ties among the economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We need to continually re-examine our roles as financial institutions in promoting SME growth and our strategies and business models to better support the SMEs, from the APEC perspective, for global competition. 2010 is a particularly important landmark year,” said Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid.

The Chairperson for the Annual Meeting, Chuah Mei Lin, who is also the Executive Director of ABM lauded the opportunity presented by the Annual Meeting for sharing a wealth of invaluable information among the Member Economies present and attending. The key messages, she revealed, which will be brought to the Secretariat of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting from the Annual Meeting can be grouped under three broad headings:-

• Redefining the role of financial institutions dealing with SMEs in promoting SME growth
• Re-strategizing to help propel SMEs forward amidst a more challenging operating environment
• Streamlining and harmonizing policies of Signatory Member Economies where possible to minimize barriers to entry and encourage more trade related activities between SMEs of the Signatory Member Economies

The Conference in conjunction with the 7^th Annual Meeting to be held tomorrow, Friday, 16 July will be officiated by Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. The Conference will see the participation of nearly 200 participants comprising officials from the Ministry of Finance, regulators, local and international bankers, as well as senior representatives from development finance institutions, Chambers of Commerce, and various SME and trade associations.

Leading the line-up of eminent speakers and panellists from both the financing as well as the business sectors for the Conference will be Dr Matthew Gamser, Principal, Advisory Services, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Asia and Pacific who has over 30 years of experience in international enterprise development, local economic development and finance. Drawing from his varied and interesting background, Dr Gamser will speak on the topic, “New Directions in SME Finance Support: Perspectives from an International Development Finance Institution”. The other speakers and panellists comprise Dr. Yeah Kim Leng, Group Chief Economist, RAM Holdings Bhd, Encik Mahdi Mohd Ariffin, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SME Corporation Malaysia, Ms Michelle Lau, Managing Director, Meesha Sukira, Mr Chris Thiagarajah, Chief Executive Officer, SkyBus Ventures Sdn Bhd and Mr Adrian Yeo, Managing Director, Adrian Yeo & Co. Chartered Accountants.

About the APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with SMEs

Nominated to represent Malaysia, ABM signed the Memorandum of Understanding or MOU of the APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with SMEs on 5 September 2003 in Thailand with eight other Member Economies namely, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. At that time, there was no dedicated financial institution in Malaysia set up solely for the purpose of providing financing to the SMEs. With the bulk of SME financing being channeled via its members comprising commercial banks operating in Malaysia, ABM would appear to be the natural choice. Three years later, the grouping, APEC Financial Institutions Dealing with SMEs, expanded to include Mexico and Philippines.

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