Today's Pick (08/04/13/58/982) Maybank aims for higher SME loan growth this year

Maybank aims for higher SME loan growth this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is targeting for its retail small and medium enterprise (SME) loan to grow between 18% and 20% this year.

Its deputy president and head of community financial services Datuk Lim Hong Tat said the segment grew about 10% last year.

“In the last three months, the annualised growth for this segment was about 18% and we expect to maintain this momentum for this year to about 18% to 20%,” he said.

For 2014, Lim said the company aimed to have a retail SME loan growth of more than 20%. The company had a soft launch of its transformation programme for retail SME banking in December last year, aimed at developing a friendlier and “lean” approach in its operating model.

“We see good traction and we are getting positive feedback. Of course, there were kinks initially but as we moved along we have managed to remove them,” Lim said in an press briefing yesterday.

Maybank also implemented a better risk assessment tool to assess and rate its customers according to their risk profile with more ease.

Lim said that the tool sped up the loan application process to between seven and eight days from about two weeks previously.

Additionally, under the new programme, Maybank offers more SME products and services such as cash management, commercial cards and insurance, aside from deposits and loans, which Lim said, provided a one-stop solution for Maybank's SME customers.

Maybank leverages on its extensive distribution network via its 400 or so branches around the country to be a one-stop shop for its SME customers.

“We have strengthened our sales team and embedded them at the key branches. SME customers can now walk into our Maybank branches for advice on their banking needs,” Lim said.

Retail SMEs are businesses that have a turnover of RM5mil and below, compared with the larger SMEs that have been defined as having turnover of RM25mil and below.

Maybank currently has about 13% market share of the retail SMEs. The bank is targeting to have a 20% market share of retail SMEs in five years' time.

Maybank has about 60% market share of the entire SME industry in Malaysia, with more than 400,000 in its SME customer base.

“As at December 2012, we lead with a commanding SME loans market share of 21.6%, a big jump from 16.4% at the start of 2010,” Lim said.

The bank's SME loans stand at about RM35bil while the retail SME segment is about RM5bil.

Source : The Star

Date : 5 April 2013

Today's Pick (08/04/13/58/982)