RM50m Maybank loans for ICT StarBiz, Tuesday, August 10, 2004 MALAYAN Banking Bhd (Maybank) plans to give out loans totalling at least RM50mil within a year under Maybank ITplus, its new financing package that is aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to acquire information and communications technology (ICT). Maybank's Enterprise Financial Services Group head and executive vice-president Muhamad Umar Swift said the bank was offering the package to about 40,000 existing SME borrowing customers and other SMEs. “We are making it available to SMEs as part of Maybank’s continuous support for the sector that accounts for nearly 25% of the bank’s total loans,” he said after the launch of Maybank ITplus in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Swift said Maybank, which was expecting double-digit growth in SME loans, hoped to expand its 20% share of the SME loan market. He said Maybank, Credit Guarantee Corp Bhd (CGC) and IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd had jointly developed the financing package, aimed at assisting SMEs to acquire critical ICT capabilities that would improve their business and operational productivity and efficiency as well as offering higher value products and services. Maybank ITplus provides a financing package amounting to between RM50,000 and RM500,000. It offers a high margin of advance of 80% on hardware and 70% for software at an affordable base lending rate plus a fixed rate of 1.75% to 2% and a repayment period of over three years. “The loan part of the package can be approved by the bank and, where applicable, will be guaranteed by CGC while the ICT solutions will be provided by a Maybank-IBM panel of independent solution vendors (ISVs),” he said. Of the 70,000 outstanding loans worth RM9.5bil approved by CGC, 35% to 40% were disbursed by Maybank. “Maybank ITplus will enable SMEs to take a quantum leap to acquire solutions from the ISVs to give them the competitive edge in the domestic and global markets,” he said. The ISVs are Visual Solutions (M) Sdn Bhd, Business Network Solutions Sdn Bhd, KarenSoft Technology Bhd, PannaAge Technology Sdn Bhd, Multies Computer Systems Sdn Bhd and IFCA Consulting Group. Swift added that the bank would increase the number of ISVs to meet the demand of the SMEs and explore collaborations with other global solution providers to cater to their ICT demands and needs. Maybank will showcase its new financing product at Maybank’s 38 business centres nationwide as well as at IBM Solutions Expo 2004 at Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 10 to 11. By SABRY TAHIR