First-of-its-kind bank and digital service regional tie up to provide financing solutions to underserved SMEs
KUALA LUMPUR, 9 August 2019 – CIMB Group (“CIMB”) have entered into a partnership with Axiata Digital Capital (“ADC”), a fintech services provider under Axiata Digital that provides financing solutions to potentially 700,000 small and medium enterprise (SME) customers in Malaysia and Indonesia through ADC’s Micro lending platform, Aspirasi.
The partnership - signed by Victor Lee Meng Teck, CEO of Group Commercial Banking, CIMB Group and Sheyantha Abeykoon, CFO of Axiata Digital and Director of Axiata Digital Capital, marks a significant milestone for both entities as this represents the first regional collaboration between a bank and a digital services provider that is focused on fueling the growth of micro and small SMEs.
“Customers are at the heart of all our initiatives. To that end, we are pleased to partner Axiata Digital Capital to strengthen our digital proposition to potentially 700,000 SMEs in Malaysia and Indonesia enabling them to gain access to financing solutions seamlessly and speedily to support their growth. Through this collaboration, we aim to fulfil SMEs’ unique needs based on their different business life stages. Further, CIMB will also extend end-to-end support for SMEs to expand their businesses both within their home market and off-shore, by leveraging on our strong regional footprint and network,” said Victor Lee.
“We are excited to collaborate with CIMB, an organization which shares in our vision of empowering small-time businesses through digitally inclusive technologies. Our new digital financing platform, Aspirasi, offers a novel digital loan application journey with instant underwriting and fast disbursement, offering customers an unparalleled experience from any offered in the market today,” said Sheyantha Abeykoon.
Since 2014, Axiata Digital has been focused on accelerating digital adoption by offering innovative financial solutions such as e-wallets, micro financing and remittance to narrow the digital divide for Axiata Group Berhad’s over 300 million customers across South and Southeast Asia. Additionally, by leveraging its deep expertise in digital technology, Axiata Digital aims to ensure a future-ready and financially inclusive society for the underserved, whilst showcasing the business benefits of ICT for success and growth for micro and SMEs.
In March this year, CIMB announced its commitment to disburse RM15 billion to 100,000 SMEs in 2019-2020. To this end, the Bank recently partnered with Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC) to provide SMEs access to RM2 billion in financing through CGC’s Portfolio Guarantee-i scheme. CIMB has also committed to an investment of RM300 million in tech and data for its commercial banking business over the next five years, to support the rapid growth of the SME sector which, in 2018, grew by 6.2% in Malaysia, and 10% in Indonesia.
