AmBank (M) Berhad (“AmBank”) and Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (“CGC”) signed an SME Portfolio Guarantee (“SPG”) agreement to further enhance its strategic focus on developing and financing the Small and Medium Enterprise (“SME”) segment in Malaysia via AmBank’s SME Banking.
The signing ceremony today is a progression of the ongoing strategic collaboration between AmBank and CGC. Through this partnership, both AmBank and CGC have committed to extending an additional of RM200 million financing for eligible SME businesses as part of Tranche 2.
This marks a continuation of the SME Portfolio Guarantee Scheme, which was launched in September 2016; whereby, a sum of RM150 million in Tranche 1 was allocated and fully subscribed within five months.
Under this scheme, eligible SMEs can apply for financing facilities of up to RM 1 million from AmBank SME with repayment tenure of up to seven years. Seventy percent of the principal financing amount will be guaranteed by CGC.
The partnership agreement was signed by Jade Lee, Managing Director of Retail Banking, AmBank (M) Berhad together Mr. Leong Weng Choong, Chief Business Officer of CGC. It was witnessed by Datuk Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak, President/Chief Executive Officer of CGC and Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir, Group Chief Executive Officer of AmBank Group.
Dato’ Sulaiman said, “We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with CGC through this SME Portfolio Guarantee agreement, where we have extended a further sum of RM200 million as part of Tranche 2 of the CGC Portfolio Guarantee Scheme to support the growing demands of the SME industry and our customers. This partnership is in line with AmBank Group’s Top 4 strategy to expand and strengthen our SME business.”
“Overall, AmBank SME Banking and CGC have allocated a total of RM350 million to date to support the SME businesses in providing working capital financing to qualified borrowers who lack collateral.” Dato’ Sulaiman further commented.
AmBank SME business solutions provide innovative resolutions that are suited for SMEs that are looking to expand their business reach and the SME Portfolio Guarantee will be available at all AmBank branches nationwide. Other products and services include Business Premise Loan, Bank Guarantee OTC, AmBank@Work, AmSignature Priority Banking and Business Current Account.
“With the success of the first tranche of RM150 million which we inked with AmBank back in September 2016, we are pleased to collaborate once again with AmBank on a second tranche valued at RM200 million,” said CGC’s President / Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak.
“This is our fourth PG strategic partnership with AmBank and to date, we have availed RM950 million worth of financing via our PG scheme. I look forward to many more opportunities to further increase access to financing for SMEs in Malaysia.” said Datuk Zamree.
Zamree further explained that it is imperative for CGC to continuously explore new avenues in providing further access to financing for SMEs, by providing impactful guarantee and financing products.
He added that such initiatives will hasten the achievement of CGC’s aspiration to be the Household Name for SMEs by 2020.
