• SME News
OCBC Bank Eyes Double-Digit Growh In Loan Approvals For SMEs This Year
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 (Bernama) -- OCBC Bank (M) Bhd expects double-digit growth in loan approvals for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) this year, said its director/chief executive officer, Jeffrey Chew.
He said the bank had approved RM4 billion worth of loans for SMEs last year.
"We expect to do better and this year it will be double digits. I think for 2009, a lot of investments had kicked in, especially from larger corporations, through the start of government projects. I believe this will filter down quickly between six months and one year to the SMEs. So, they (SMEs) will need more financing this year. In that sense, there should be demand for more SME loans this year," Chew told reporters after the signing of an agreement with SME Credit Bureau to purchase SME credit-related reports.
He said OCBC Bank was the first bank to purchase the reports, which would allow it to use the entire range of reports generated by the bureau on credit ratings and business information on Malaysian SMEs for assessing prospective customers.
SME Credit Bureau chief executive officer, Alex Lim, said the bureau expected loan approvals to be speeded up from five days now. "From the standpoint of the bureau, we hope to have an accurate rating on SMEs. So that can give quicker access," he said.
Lim said the OCBC business development team could expect much faster turnaround when requesting credit rating and business information reports, because they would no longer need to go through the processes involved in obtaining individual reports from various sources. He said SME Credit Bureau also hoped to tie up with other financial institutions for such arrangement soon.
"In fact, all other financial institutions have been offered. We have 38 banks as members," he said. -- BERNAMA
| « Carrefour To Open Three New Hypermarkets This Month | | | Negeri Sembilan To Open New SMI Areas » |
