KUCHING: Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia (Standard Chartered Malaysia) and
its wholly-owned Islamic subsidiary bank Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd (Saadiq)
are looking to grow the small and medium enterprise (SME) banking sector as it
is among the fastest growing segments in the country.
Standard Chartered Malaysia country head (Consumer Banking) Sonia
Wedrychowicz noted that SME was the fastest growing customer segment in the
country with a two digit growth rate every year.
“A lot of the innovations that we are bringing in from the conventional
side are getting immediately reflected in the syariah-compliant SME products.
“For example, when you see advertising for just one CASA account we’ve
introduced for the conventional side, we’ve got also an Islamic version
immediately.
“The same is happening for SME as we’re just about to launch a great new
value proposition which is going to be available for SMEs both on the
conventional side as well as for Saadiq.
“Every new product, initiative, innovation and digital platform we’re
trying to do at the same time for both ‘legs’ as we call them to have a full
fledged proposition,” she said at a press conference after the launch of
Saadiq’s first branch in Sarawak recently.
The country head, who is originally from Poland, described the SME
development pace in Malaysia as being ‘amazing’, based on her observation of
the number of SMEs blossoming here.
“Our branches are usually located in the middle of the SME centres so the
opportunity is there. We’re trying to make sure that we’re the main bank for
the customers.
“I’m happy to tell you that all of our products are very much based on the
customers’ needs, so when we approach the customers, we want to be the main
bank, from lending to deposits as well as to the investment needs of the
customers.
“So, we are happy to the main bank for the majority of our customer base
and we’re going to grow the business even more this year,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Saadiq chief executive officer Wasim Saifi (who is also global
head of consumer banking) made a concurring observation on the Islamic side of
banking in that SME sector remained one of the bank’s fastest growing segments
on a global scale.
“A lot of the SME businesses are managed by the owners themselves and they
are personally keen on Islamic finance. Therefore, they want to make sure that
their businesses are also buying and taking syariah-compliant products.
“We’ve been able to complete the SME proposition in most of the markets by
bringing in products from all sides, including the Islamic side: financing
products, cash management products, electronic delivery products that we now
have, the syariah-compliant Islamic platform for SMEs to deal with and all
aspects of SME requirements,”
he said.
(Borneo Post Online / 23 Feb 2013)
---
Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment