Digital lending for SMEs with benchmark turnaround time

Maybank has launched a new digital lending service for the SME segment, after successfully addressing the need for lending risk to be visible and acceptable with machine learning and AI.

Maybank’s Group President and CEO, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias shared about the perpetual challenge banks face when exploring how do more for SMEs, and described Maybank’s new digital SME financing service as the first in the market to be done electronically end-to-end, from application to approval to fund disbursement.

“The process is designed to take ten minutes from application for financing all the way to approval – it is about the time we take to consume a cup of hot coffee,” he said.

Datuk Abdul Farid Alias

It is usually challenging for financial services institutions (FSI) to finance SME customers without their collateral or credit history.

By using existing customer data and applying AI and machine learning technologies to these data, Maybank’s digital solutlion is now able to automate credit risk assessment and the loan application process.

Maybank customers do not need to submit any documents, hence the record-breaking turnaround time of 10 minutes.

Non-Maybank customers however, would need to submit company information and other information for verification, after which they would be informed electronically of the application status after two working days.

Group CEO, John Chong expects up to RM500 million in funds to be disbursed this year, via this new platform. Over the next 3 years, this figure is expected to be up to over RM35 billion.