KUALA LUMPUR: SME Bank aims to provide RM3 billion in financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) this year to nurture their development, said group managing director Datuk Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus.
Mohd Radzif said as of May this year, the bank has given out RM1.2 billion in loans to SMEs to support their business growth.
“We provided financing worth RM2.73 billion to 1,737 SMEs in 2013,” he said at the announcement of the bank’s 2013 financial results here yesterday.
The bank posted a pre-tax profit of RM93.97 million in 2013, nearly 1.5 times more than targeted.
It recorded an operating profit of RM99.47 million which was more than doubled the targeted amount, he said.
Mohd Radzif said the bank’s gross income from Islamic banking business rose 22 per cent to RM209.3 million from 2012, reflecting its robust growth in Islamic banking asset.
“This is in line with our target to become a full-fledged syariah-based development finance institution by 2015,” he said.
He said the bank’s factory complexes under its Entrepreneur Premises Programme enjoyed a 91.8 per cent occupancy rate out of 439 units available with 10 participants graduating from the programme last year.
A total of 43 companies registered under the IQ Dagang programme had converted their ideas into bankable businesses, Mohd Radzif said.
“The programme is used by SME Bank to get those with innovative ideas to share and explore the possibilities of commercialising them if deemed viable,” he said.
The bank also expanded its market outreach through the opening of two new entrepreneur centres in Batu Pahat, Johor and Kajang, Selangor, he said.
He said the bank established one business centre in Rawang, Selangor as well as three other outlets at the Urban Transformation Centres in Alor Setar (Kedah); Ipoh (Perak); and, Kuantan (Pahang).
— Bernama