Bank Negara improves access of financing for home buyers, SMEs

Bank Negara has improved access to financing through the Khidmat Nasihat Pembiayaan (MyKNP) and imSME to assist home buyers and SMEs who are unsuccessful their financing applications.

In its Annual Report 2019, Bank Negara said as of December last year a total of 249 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and homebuyers received assistance via MyKNP while over 1,800 SMEs have successfully obtained financing amounting to RM179 million under imSME.

MyKNP was introduced in August 2019 together with Credit Guarantee Cooperation Malaysia (CGC), and AKPK to help prospective borrowers to better understand factors behind their unsuccessful application.

The unsuccessful applicants will receive advice on how to improve their chances of securing financing in the future.

"This could include helping prospective borrower learn about the types of supporting documentation that financial institutions use to evaluate the credit standing of an individual or business.

“A prospective borrower could also be offered suggestions to improve his or her financial position, such as ways to generate more income or rationalise existing debt and other commitments before reapplying,” said Bank Negara, adding that MyKNP may refer unsuccessful applicants alternative avenues to meet their financial needs.

Meanwhile, imSME is an online financing referral platform developed by CGC which matches SMEs to suitable financing products according to their business profile, credit score and financing needs.

Bank Negara revealed that 25 conventional and Islamic financial institutions currently provide financing solutions through this platform.

Through the platform, Bank Negara said SMEs can submit financing applications via online platform to various financial institutions simultaneously and receive responses from lenders within two days of application.

"This reduces the time and expenses that SMEs would otherwise have to incur to obtain quotes from several banks," Bank Negara said.

Furthermore, Bank Negara said, SME which fails to be matched with a financial institution on imSME will be offered advice to improve its financing viability through targeted capacity building programmes and also be referred to an alternative finance provider.

- Bernama