This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 13, 2020 - February 19, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Bank Bhd and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd are partnering with Shopmatic, an e-commerce provider, to help Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) build and scale up their businesses in the e-commerce space.

The initiative, said CIMB in a statement yesterday, is part of the group’s new three-pronged SME business proposition to provide a complete suite of financing and business solutions to its customers.

These solutions comprise SME Financing (for no-collateral and business property financing), SME Transact (cash management services), and SME Partners (which provides services like logistics, workspace, digital connectivity and e-commerce, accounting and human resource solutions).

With the new partnership, CIMB said SMEs in Malaysia stand to benefit from Shopmatic’s services, including setting up an e-commerce site, complete with a secure payment gateway, and guidance on the necessary technical know-how in starting and running an online business.

Other advantages of Shopmatic include fully integrated services for shipping, social and digital marketing, point of sale and last-mile fulfilment, it said.

“This partnership with Shopmatic aims to help SMEs take advantage of global online business opportunities. This further cements CIMB’s SME Partners proposition as an ideal and easy-to-use support ecosystem for SMEs just starting out, or those looking to scale up.

“In addition to financing, SMEs can also avail themselves of CIMB’s expertise, regional footprint and business networks for their development,” said CIMB Group chief executive officer (CEO) of group commercial banking, Victor Lee Meng Teck.

Shopmatic co-founder and CEO Anurag Avula said the partnership with CIMB marks a new dawn for the e-commerce solutions provider, as it forays into Malaysia and strengthen its presence within the digital emerging market space in Southeast Asia.