OCBC Bank Malaysia expects surge in SME loans

Malaysia's biggest foreign-owned lender attributes 30 percent year-on-year growth on new SME loan method.

OCBC Bank (Malaysia Bhd) saw an almost 30 percent year-on-year increase in small and medium enterprise (SME) loans as at end-September 2009, despite the global financial turmoil.

The growth was almost double that of the previous corresponding year, and the bank expects the upward trend to continue in 2010, it said in a statement in a report in Bernama.

OCBC Bank's head of retail commercial banking, Wong Chee Seng said the future looked bright for SMEs, especially with the recent introduction of the SME Assistance Guarantee Scheme (SME AGS) by Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC).

"Through the SME AGS, which was introduced earlier this year, we have already approved loans to the tune of over RM300 million ($88.35 million), involving more than 2,000 borrowers," he added.