RHB top provider of govt-guaranteed financing to SMEs with RM1.13b disbursement

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): The RHB Banking Group has been awarded the Top Performer Award by Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Bhd (SJPP) for providing the highest amount of financing to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) under the government-guaranteed financing scheme.

SJPP, a wholly-owned company of the Ministry of Finance Inc (MoF Inc), is an administrator and manager of credit guarantee schemes under MoF Inc.

RHB said it has topped total approval and disbursement of financing under the SJPP SME financing scheme, with a disbursement of RM1.13 billion in 2019 against total approval of RM1.43 billion. The bank approved 914 applications.

“RHB is all to support SMEs. Our commitment is to provide SMEs access to financing, as key growth engines of the economy. In 2019, RHB had approved approximately RM10 billion in financing for Malaysian SMEs, including RM5 billion which benefitted more than 3,000 smaller SMEs,” RHB group managing director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said in a statement.

“Our approach towards helping SMEs goes beyond lending, making it easy for business owners to achieve greater cost-effectiveness and efficiency through an integrated ecosystem by providing customised solutions,” he added.

As part of the group’s Digital Transformation Programme, RHB has developed various first-in-market digital solutions including the RHB iSMART Digital RM (relationship manager) tool for SME customer advisory and the RHB SME Financing online for end-to-end digital SME Financing origination.

The award was presented by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng at the official launch of "Budget 2020 – Government Guarantee Schemes for SMEs" today.

The RHB Banking Group, with RHB Bank Bhd as the holding company, is the fourth largest financial services group in Malaysia.

RHB Bank's share price closed 1 sen or 0.17% lower at RM5.85 today, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM23.42 billion.