KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Bank Bhd’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing division is aiming to contribute 20% of the banking group’s bottom line in three years.
Although it declined to reveal the current size of its SME client pool, RHB’s business and transaction banking division director Datin Amy Ooi Swee Lian said the bank currently accounts for about 8.8% of the pie in terms of SME financing.
“SMEs form the backbone of the local economy, and accelerate the growth and success of banking institutions. At the moment, we are ranked number four in terms of SME banking,” Ooi told the press after launching the Merchant Mobile Point of Sale (MPOS) wireless payment device yesterday.
With that, RHB is aiming for double-digit growth of its SME financing portfolio by end-2016. Although the bank’s current growth rate for the segment was not disclosed, it claimed that it is “growing above the industry’s average”, which hovers between 8% and 9%.
“By December 2016, we hope to post double-digit loan growth for SMEs. We are currently doing better than the industry’s average of about 8% to 9%,” said RHB’s head of SME division Jeffrey Ng Eow Oo.
RHB’s MPOS pocket-sized payment device launched yesterday offers SMEs fast, simple and seamless connectivity to the e-retail ecosystem.
The MPOS is integrated into the cloud-based Electronic Point of Sale system to enable fast and convenient payment collection, and accepts all kinds of card transactions, too.
The introduction of the MPOS is part of the bank’s SME e-Retail Solution which offers retailers total technology and banking solutions aimed at improving SME businesses.
“We are proud to be the first financial institution in Malaysia to offer a total connectivity solution for SMEs. The SME e-Retail Solution offers SMEs a holistic solution for seamless connectivity, therefore achieving cost reduction and greater efficiency in their businesses,” said Ooi.
The group hopes to achieve at least 1,000 subscribers for its SME e-Retail Solution by year end. The figure is expected to increase to about 5,000 over the next three years.