KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has launched a new mobile application for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the key objective of making their banking requirements simple and secure, and provide them with the necessary tools to help with their non-banking requirements as well as to ease business operations.

Dubbed Maybank2u Biz, the lender through a virtual launch on Tuesday announced that the new application was developed to cater to the needs of busy business owners, who are always on the go and managing multiple tasks. It is suitable for partnerships, private limited companies, professional firms, educational institutions, clubs, society and associations.

The bank highlighted that the application has features such as an “invoicing” tool, which allows business owners to create, issue and track invoices. Invoices can be customised using ready-to-use templates, and sent out to their customers via various communication channels such as email and chat messaging applications on their mobile devices.  

It also said SMEs can easily access their in-depth financial information through the application, as it provides a full view of their accounts on its dashboard.

It added that SMEs are able to download a year’s worth of cash flow data in spreadsheet format (CSV) on-demand, without having to wait for the traditional month-end statements. With the information, business owners can now plan ahead, make better decisions, or even spot potential red flags in their cash flow early.

Maybank community financial services chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk John Chong Eng Chuan said it is timely for the bank to roll out this application to help SMEs in terms of simplifying things and making work more efficient for them.

He said this enables SMEs to be more focused on what is important to them, including plans for their business recovery as the economy slowly opens up and recovers.

Maybank currently serves about 58% of the total SMEs in Malaysia.

According to Chong, of the total SME customer base that Maybank serves, currently 67% are using Maybank’s various digital platforms. The bank’s goal is to increase it to 80% in the next 12 months.

Maybank group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the launch of Maybank2u Biz reaffirmed Maybank’s commitment to support SMEs.

“With its intuitive interface, easy navigation, and useful business tools, we believe Maybank2u Biz will be well received by SMEs, as Maybank currently serves 58% of the SMEs in Malaysia. This is just the first phase of the application; we will continue to enhance it and bring in more features that will help SMEs power up their businesses,” Farid said.

“Running a business is very complex and it is even more challenging during these extraordinary circumstances. Hence, we have designed Maybank2u Biz to be more than just a banking application, but a business companion that will help ease SMEs’ burden and empower them to drive their businesses forward. We have made it simple, because entrepreneurs should be spending more time making strategic decisions instead of managing daily operations,” he added.

The application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple AppStore on Tuesday.

Existing Maybank business customers can just download the application and log in with their Maybank2u Biz ID and password to start using it immediately, with the data from all their Maybank accounts automatically made available in the new application.

Non-Maybank customers are able to open a Maybank business account online via Maybank2u, with only a single trip to the branch to activate the account. Once activated, they may start using the application, and have access to all the banking features and business tools within.

At the time of writing, shares in Maybank were down 0.12% or one sen at RM8.02, valuing it at RM93.78 billion.