Bank Islam has introduced various initiatives for a broad segment of the SME industry. Its WinBiz financing programme is specially designed for women SME entrepreneurs to provide easy access to working capital and capital expenses.
IN support of the local small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and the role they play in developing the nation’s economy, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad has introduced various initiatives for a broad segment of the SME industry.
A range of programmes has been rolled out by the bank as part of its five-year business strategic plan known as LEAP25.
Introduced in 2018, the bank’s SME banking division caters to these businesses in a broad range of SME segments – including manufacturing, vendor associations, women entrepreneurs and professional services.
According to Bank Islam Group Chief Business Officer – Retail (GCBO-Retail) Mizan Masram, the bank has continuously implemented strategic initiatives to further uphold and enhance SME businesses through several strategies.
“Firstly, we’ve established new SME hubs to increase the SME footprints to approximately 16 hubs across the region, including major towns such as Sri Petaling, George Town, Sungai Petani, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
“We have also increased the number of our SME relationship managers to cater to and build stronger connections with current and potential customers.
“Secondly, we formed new collaborations with government bodies, private companies, business associations such as the Halal Development Corporation (HDC), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp Malaysia) and Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).
“This is to provide Islamic banking solutions to SMEs, whilst spreading awareness that these solutions are not only for Muslim-owned businesses, but for all Malaysians.”
The SMEXpert mobile app enables SMEs to go digital and expand their business within a halal digital ecosystem for the halal market.
Programmes and engagements
To lend a helping hand to local SMEs who were adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Bank Islam has conducted various financial assistance programmes for its customers.
During the height of the pandemic, to mitigate the limitation of in-person outreach due to the movement control order (MCO), the bank assisted its customers through various online engagement and activities such as webinars and dialogues.
As part of LEAP25, the bank supports the SME sector by forming synergistic collaborations that will contribute towards knowledge sharing, best practices and shariah-compliant SME financial solutions to help the SMEs thrive in the Malaysian and global markets.
Various initiatives have been introduced that support a broad segment of the SME industry that includes women entrepreneurs, sole-proprietorships, partnerships and professional service providers.
Products offered by Bank Islam to support the development of SMEs include:
> SME Biz G.R.O.W Financing Programme: A financing solution for business owners to upscale and grow their businesses.
> SME Automation and Digitalisation Facility (ADF): A Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Initiative Fund to encourage SMEs across various sectors to automate processes and digitalise operations to increase productivity and efficiency.
> All Economic Sector Facility (AES): BNM’s Initiative Fund to enhance access to financing for SMEs across various sectors to support growth.
> WinBiz financing: Women in Business Financing Programme (WinBiz) is specially designed for Malaysian women SME entrepreneurs to provide easy access to working capital and capital expenses.
> GO Halal SME financing: A multi-financing product package exclusive to HDC members designed for SMEs to finance halal certification and training costs, working capital and capital expenses.
> SME exporter financing: A financing solution for MATRADE members to support their export needs.
> SMEXpert mobile app: Designed to support and enable SMEs to go digital and expand their business within a halal digital ecosystem for the halal market.
“Fast forward to 2021, our SME Banking grew tremendously to improve our market share,” said Mizan.
“In recognition of the nation’s first Main Market-listed pure-play full-fledged Islamic financial institution, and with the rollout of the Go Halal SME financing programme to promote the growth of Malaysia’s halal industry, BIMB received the Halal Financial Excellence Award at the World Halal Excellence Award 2021 recently.”
Strengthening SME portfolio
Digital acceleration and technological advancements have opened new markets within the local and global environments, creating more business opportunities for SMEs to explore.
According to Mizan, through its SME banking division the bank will be introducing various programmes and initiatives to meet the ever-changing needs at every stage of business growth.
Mizan shared that Bank Islam has continuously implemented strategic initiatives to further uphold and enhance SME businesses.
“To support the growing needs of SMEs in this time of change, we plan to introduce more SME financing products and provide holistic and shariah-compliant financial solutions to our customers, including wealth management and takaful,” said Mizan.
Being the pioneer of Islamic banking in Malaysia, Bank Islam offers a comprehensive shariah-compliant total financial solution covering retail and non-retail portfolios.
Developing halal SMEs
Mizan stated that SMEs have enormous opportunities to penetrate the global halal market.
“To grow, nurture and develop the SME segment, Bank Islam aims to cater to the entire halal SME ecosystem. As an Islamic banking and financial institution, it is important for Bank Islam to play a more critical role in catalysing the halal economy by providing sound support to better equip the halal industry players.
“Through our offerings, the bank strives to be the preferred partner for SMEs and the Islamic bank of choice in the halal industry,” he said.
The Go Halal SME financing programme is a flagship example of the bank’s initiative to support the halal industry development.
In collaboration with HDC, Bank Islam introduced the Go Halal fund with an allocation of RM100mil, offered exclusively to eligible SMEs enrolled under the HDC’s Halal Integrated Platform (HIP).
The bank partnered with MATRADE and recently launched the SME Exporter Financing Programme with a total fund of RM100mil to support SMEs registered as MATRADE members in their international market outreach by providing total financial solutions for export activities.
Bank Islam also partners with SME Corp Malaysia to jointly facilitate the implementation of development programmes, financial support and guidance for SMEs across all related ministries and agencies.
To support women entrepreneurs, Mizan said: “In recognising the vital role of women and their impact on the nation’s well-being, Bank Islam has introduced the WinBiz financing programme as our commitment in championing the efforts of women entrepreneurs.”
Mizan said that digitalisation is one of the key investments that a business should be making at this current time, sharing that the bank’s mobile app – SMExpert – was created to establish a digital halal ecosystem that SMEs can leverage to grow their businesses.
The bank also came up with another mobile application called GO Biz that enables merchants or sellers to manage their day-to-day business quickly and securely from their mobile devices.
“In the last couple of years, Bank Islam has invested millions in digital-enabling infrastructure to facilitate its venture into the digital banking sector.
“The bank will be embarking on the second phase of our technology innovation investment to further enhance the digital banking offerings to the customers,” said Mizan.
