The Association of Banks in Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia Hold Dialogue with Business Organizations in Kuantan, Pahang

Kuantan, Wednesday, 22 June 2011 –The Association  of  Banks  in  Malaysia (ABM)  in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) hosted a fruitful dialogue between Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) organizations, other relevant business organizations and representatives of the financial services industry in Kuantan today.

More than 90 participants including ABM’s member banks, SMEs and trade organizations from Pahang took part in the half-day dialogue. Thirteen member banks with commercial presence in Pahang turned up in full support. Participation by prominent business organizations in the region included SMI Association of Pahang, Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI), Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Kuantan Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as Pahang Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The dialogue is an industry-wide initiative designed for commercial banks to foster better ties with business communities outside key urban areas in West Malaysia. In line with the commercial banks’ continued support for SME activities, the interactive session presented an opportunity for the business community to share with the financial services sector its suggestions and comments for better collaboration.

On hand with presentations which helped demonstrate the wide spectrum of financing options available for SMEs and other businesses, besides conventional loans or facilities, were SME Corporation Malaysia, Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad and Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia).

Towards this end, SME Corporation Malaysia presented on its new One Stop Referral whilst Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad was on hand to brief the SMEs on the access to financing through its various guarantee schemes available. In its maiden outing, GreenTech Malaysia shared with the SMEs the features of green technology financing scheme including the eligibility criteria, tenure and amount of financing available.

“Over the past two years, we have held very productive dialogues with SMEs organizations throughout the country. The dialogues have proved to be very beneficial and insightful for the SMEs, commercial banking sector and related agencies as they provide an interactive avenue for the business community to share with the financial services sector their suggestions and feedback. At the same time, we wanted to keep SMEs abreast of initiatives on the part of the banks and related agencies. One positive outcome of such collaboration is the PARTNER initiative,” said Chuah Mei Lin, Executive Director of ABM.

The broad objective of the PARTNER initiative is aimed at enhancing banking efficiency and customer services for SMEs. Under a phased approach, Phase 1 which sets out to streamline and simplify the processes and procedures for loan applications by SMEs was launched in October 2010. The responses from both SMEs and member banks to this phase have been very encouraging. The Phase 1 documents are now available in Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin on ABM’s website, www.abm.org.my, to cater to a wider audience.

“Going forward, we will continue to work closely with member banks, the regulatory body and related agencies to engage the SMEs for mutual benefit,” noted Chuah.

SMEs and business organizations with enquiries on commercial banking related issues may obtain more information from ABM’s website, www.abm.org.my or contact ABM’s toll-free hotline ABMConnect at 1-300-88-9980 from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, Mondays to Fridays.

Back to top