“We see plenty of opportunities to tap the SME market and support them.”

RAYMOND CHUI, UOB Malaysia executive director and business banking country head

KUALA LUMPUR: United Overseas Bank (M) Bhd (UOB) has targeted an eight per cent loan growth for its business banking segment this year.

This will be driven by the bank’s commitment to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through technology and digitalisation, specialised advisory and innovative funding solution.

UOB Malaysia executive director and business banking country head Raymond Chui said the bank sees plenty of opportunity as more SMEs digitalise their businesses.

“Business banking’s contribution to UOB Malaysia is about 13 per cent in terms of profitability and nine per cent in terms of asset size. Year-on-year, we see 15 per cent growth in customer acquisition rate and three per cent growth in asset size.

“Over the past three years, the business banking segment has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent.

“We see plenty of opportunities to tap the SME market and support them,” he told NST Business recently.

Chui said the bank is introducing more customised products.

“Earlier last year, we launched a UOB business app aimed at providing SMEs with a single access to all their business needs. The app is equipped with foreign exchange alert, news and insights, as well as products and promotions.

“Certainly, there will be more interesting products to support our SMEs customers digitally.”

UOB Malaysia and business software provider SAP last month announced a tie-up to offer UOB SmartBusiness to the bank’s SME customers.

UOB SmartBusiness is a cloudbased integrated digital business solution designed to help SMEs save costs and improve their operating efficiency.

It enables SMEs to streamline and digitise their back-office processes such as accounting, payroll and business management through a secure and integrated digital solution.

SMEs can also link their UOB SmartBusiness account to their UOB current account, thereby enabling an automated bank reconciliation process through the matching of transactions to sales invoices or bill payments.

SMEs can choose from three options. The most basic package is complimentary for UOB Malaysia’s business banking customers.