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Category: Finance

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Finance news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Manulife Indonesia to spin off sharia business unit, increase market share

    Manulife Indonesia to spin off sharia business unit, increase market share

    Manulife Indonesia has submitted a proposal to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to generate a bigger market share for its holding company by creating a spin-off of its sharia business unit, a company executive has said.

    “We have submitted the documents for the spin-off to the OJK,” Manulife Indonesia’s sharia unit head Yetty Rochyatini said in Jakarta.

    She said the Canada-based company was waiting for the OJK to complete a new regulation on sharia mutual funds, which would be released this year.

    Manulife’s sharia business unit recorded 31 percent growth year-on-year in its risk-based capital to 125 percent in the first quarter of 2016. The government has stipulated that all sharia insurance companies must have a minimum risk-based capital of 30 percent.

    Yetty said the company’s qard (benevolent sharia loan) funds amounted to Rp 240 billion (US$18.2 million), enough to meet the solvency level needed.

    According to the company’s unaudited financial report, the sharia business unit recorded Rp 25.2 billion of gross premium income in the first quarter of this year, an 84 percent increase year-on-year.

    “While waiting for the OJK to formulate the regulation, we continue to prepare ourselves by enlarging the business size and boosting sales,” Yetty said.

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  • South Korea’s Woori Bank to form Vietnam unit by July

    South Korea’s Woori Bank to form Vietnam unit by July

    South Korea’s Woori Bank expects to establish a Vietnam unit this month or in July, a bank official said on Tuesday, as part of the lender’s plans to expand its network in the expanding market of Southeast Asia.

    Woori Bank, South Korea’s largest bank in terms of consolidated assets as of the end of March, is awaiting approval from relevant authorities to established a wholly-owned unit in Vietnam, the official said.

    A Vietnamese banking source said the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, was expected to grant a licence for the South Korean lender shortly.

    South Korea is now the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, with large investments placed to turn it into a Southeast Asian production hub by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc.

    Other major Korean companies in Vietnam include Kumho Construction, Posco group, Hanjin Logistics and Kumho Tire.

    A free trade agreement between South Korea and Vietnam that came into effect last December gives more incentives for Korean firms to invest.

    Woori Bank’s Vietnam unit, once licensed, would most likely be a vehicle to expand South Korean investment in a country where it has been limited to operating two branches. Other competitors include HSBC, ANZ, Standard Chartered Bank as well as Shinhan Bank.

    With the expected approval, Woori Bank would seek to strengthen its localised service to Vietnamese retail customers through channels including its mobile banking platform Wibee Bank and chat app Wibee Talk.

  • Foreign direct investments rise to RM12.8b in first quarter

    Foreign direct investments rise to RM12.8b in first quarter

    Despite a weaker global environment, Malaysia remains a competitive investment location for foreign investors, with an increase of 28% in this quarter, says minister Mustapa Mohamed.

    In the first quarter (Q1) of 2016, Malaysia recorded RM37.3 billion of approved investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors.

    These investments involved 1,271 projects and will create 39,990 employment opportunities.

    “Despite a weaker global environment, Malaysia remains a competitive investment location for foreign investors, with an increase of 28% in this quarter.

    “Year-on-year, FDI (foreign direct investments) increased to RM12.8 billion in Q1 2016 from RM10.0 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.

    “Domestic investments led with RM24.5 billion or 65.7% of total approved investments in Q1 2016,” said International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed today.

    “Taking into account the two lumpy projects approved in last year’s Q1 i.e. PRPC’s project in Johor and LNG9’s project in Sarawak, Q1 2016 showed a decrease from RM69.8 billion in comparison as these two projects alone amounted to RM35.3 billion.

    “ I would like to highlight that without the two big projects, Q1 2016 actually shows an overall increase of 8.1% from RM34.5 billion last year,” the minister added.

    Services sector

    The services sector attracted the largest portion of approved investments in the first three months of 2016, amounting to RM27.6 billion. A total of 1,088 services projects were approved, creating 20,200 employment opportunities, the largest potential employer in the economy.

    “Foreign investment in the services sector surged by 112.1% from RM3.3 billion in Q1 2015 to RM7.0 billion in the same period this year.

    “We are seeing more foreign participation in distributive trade, education services, global establishments, financial services and real estate sub-sectors,” explained Mustapa.

    Distributive trade saw an increase of 992% of foreign participation from RM101.5 million in Q1 last year to RM1,108.7 million in Q1 2016.

    The increased investments from regional and international retailers have boosted Malaysia’s ranking to third position in the 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) by A T Kearney.

    For the education sub-sector, the increase of 672.7% of foreign investments from RM19.3 million in Q1 2015 to RM149.2 million in Q1 2016 reflects Malaysia’s success in accelerating the process in making the country a regional education hub of excellence.

    The private education sector will complement the government’s efforts in providing access to quality education to the people.

    As to date, there are 501 private higher institutions that offer a wide range of disciplines at every level of education, including short-term and professional courses certificate, diploma, degree and post-graduate degree qualifications.

    Global establishments and end-to-end global supply chain management services are fast becoming important components in the Malaysian economic backbone.

    In Q1 2016, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) approved a total of 60 global establishments with investments of RM5.6 billion.

    The lion share of these was from six principal hub projects with total investments worth RM5.5 billion. These investments were in the industries of aerospace, electronic & electrical (E&E), food & beverage as well as resource-based industries.

    The principal hub initiative is among the high value-added services that are currently promoted by Malaysia.

    Manufacturing sector

    Investments in the manufacturing sector for January-March 2016 totalled RM8.9 billion from 170 projects. The approved manufacturing projects are expected to generate about 19,650 employment opportunities.

    “Despite the decrease in investments in this sector for the first quarter of this year, it is noteworthy that Malaysia has attracted significant investments in the transport equipment industry, with a spike of 1,584% from RM40.1 billion in Q1 2015 to RM675.7 billion in Q1 2016.

    Other industries which recorded high growth rates were paper, printing & publishing (944.0%), food (550.0%), leather & leather products (162.3%), chemical & chemical products (159.1%), scientific & measuring equipment (78.8%), and rubber products (57.1%).

    Regardless of a lower investment value in Q1 2016, the E&E industry emerged as the main contributor to the total approved investments in the manufacturing sector compared to the corresponding period last year.
    Most of the high quality projects in E&E are concentrated in solar, fabricated wafers and semiconductor devices.

    Primary sector

    Malaysia continued to register a lower investment in the primary sector due to the challenges in global crude oil prices. Investments in this sector recorded a total of RM874.9 million in Q1 2016.

    The mining subsector led with approved investments of RM692.2 million, mainly from oil and gas exploration activities.

    Approved investments in the plantation and commodities subsector totaled RM129.0 million. In Q1 2016, a total of RM53.7 million investment was approved in the agriculture subsector.

     

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  • SoftBank CEO-elect Nikesh Arora steps down suddenly

    SoftBank CEO-elect Nikesh Arora steps down suddenly

    In a surprise move, SoftBank president and heir apparent Nikesh Arora has stepped down from his role.

    Nikesh announced on Twitter that current SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son will continue to be CEO for the next 5-10 years, and he has therefore decided to move on from the company.

    Nikesh had been selected last year to be groomed to replace Son, following a $482 million investment in SoftBank that Nikesh had described as “a personal bet on the Softbank Group.” Nikesh had joined SoftBank in 2014 from Google, where he was Chief Business Officer.

    At the time the succession seemed to be a done deal. But in a statement, Son said his plans have changed.

    “Nikesh is a unique leader with unparalleled skills around strategy and execution. He should be CEO of a global business, and I had hoped to hand over the reins of SoftBank to him on my 60th birthday – but I feel my work is not done,” Son said.

    “I want to cement SoftBank 2.0, develop Sprint to its true potential and work on a few more crazy ideas. This will require me to be CEO for at least another five to ten years – this is not a timeframe for me to keep Nikesh waiting for the top job.”

    Son said Nikesh will continue to act in an advisory role for Softbank starting from July 1.

    At the start of this year a US law firm called for an independent investigation into Nikesh, citing unnamed SoftBank investors, accusing him of having a conflict of interest and strongly criticizing his investment strategy on behalf of SoftBank.

    But the day before Nikesh announced his resignation, the SoftBank board had announced that a special committee had found the allegations to be without merit.

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  • Peruri to build currency paper factory in 2017

    Peruri to build currency paper factory in 2017

    The state-owned money printing company, Peruri, has set a target to build a currency paper factory in 2017, according to the companys President Director, Prasetio.

    Such a currency printing firm is badly needed because Indonesia does not have one so far, Prasetio pointed out here on Monday.

    “God willing, we will be able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with our partners, so that it can be realized next year,” Prasetio explained, adding that the venture is open to both domestic and foreign investors to be partners.

    Prasetio further said that the currency paper plant will be built on Peuris own land in the West Java Provincial District of Karawang.

    Prasetio did not elaborate how much investment would be required for the project.

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  • Bank Indonesia cuts benchmark interest rate to 6.50 per cent

    Bank Indonesia cuts benchmark interest rate to 6.50 per cent

    Indonesia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate again by a quarter point to 6.50 per cent Thursday amid slow and uneven recovery of the global economy.Bank Indonesia spokesman Tirta Segara said the cut, the fourth this year, was decided at a two-day meeting of the Board of Governors.The key interest rate was lowered in January after staying at 7.5 per cent since February 2015. Cuts of another quarter point followed in February and March.Segara said the central bank will continue monitoring global economic developments that will have an impact in Indonesia.

    He noted that the country is expected to feel effects from the U.S. economy, which is not in solid recovery as indicated by weakening of consumption and employment as well as low inflation.The central bank believes that the easing of monetary and macro-prudential policies will strengthen the government’s attempts to boost sustainable economic growth through acceleration of structural reforms.Domestic economic growth in the second quarter of 2016 is expected to improve although not as strong as previously expected, the central bank said in a statement.

    It sees that various steps are still needed to boost domestic demand to continue to strengthen the momentum of economic growth, and with these developments, the overall economic growth for 2016 is estimated to be in the range of 5 per cent to 5.4 per cent.

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  • China, Hong Kong shares fall as global investors flee risky assets

    China, Hong Kong shares fall as global investors flee risky assets

    China and Hong Kong stocks slumped on Monday morning, with investors joining a global flight from risky assets on lingering economic concerns and rising risks from the UK’s possible exit from the European Union.

    Sentiment was dampened by worries over China’s economic health after data showed slowing growth in fixed asset investments and retail sales, offsetting optimism that MSCI may add Chinese shares to its emerging market index this week.

    China’s blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.8 percent, to 3,138.06 points by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index also lost 0.8 percent, to 2,904.23 points.

    Selling was more intensive in Hong Kong, where financial markets are more open and thus more vulnerable to global market volatility. The benchmark Hang Seng index dropped 2.5 percent.

    In June 2015, China’s “Great China Bubble” burst, triggered by the destruction of margin trades, and sending shockwaves across global financial markets.

    “One year after the crash, China’s stocks, bonds, property and currency are still expensive,” wrote Hong Hao, chief strategist of BOCOM International.

    He added that the Shanghai index was still roughly 17 percent above the theoretical support level of 2,500 even after almost halving from last summer’s peak.

    “Although Hong Kong is trying to heal, struggling global markets will be a drag.”

    Global market volatility surged lately as investors fretted ahead of this week’s central bank meetings as well as Britain’s June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.

    Sentiment was not helped by lacklustre Chinese data.

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) in May fell 1 percent from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year decline since December, according to data published on Sunday.

    Data on Monday showed that China’s fixed-asset investment growth eased to 9.6 percent in January-May from the same period a year earlier, below market expectations. Industrial output and retail sales data were not encouraging either.

    “Given today’s data, there is higher risk for China to miss the growth target of 6.5 percent y/y in Q2,” ANZ wrote in a research note.

    Shares fell across the board in China and Hong Kong.

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  • The Bank of Korea Just Delivered a Surprise

    The Bank of Korea Just Delivered a Surprise

    South Korea’s iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (EWY) slid on June 9 after the Bank of Korea cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.25%. This is a record low for the Korean policy rate, which is aiming to support the government’s plan for massive debt restructuring for highly indebted firms.

    Growing risks to the economy due to slow trade recovery worldwide also drove the dovish move. EWY had risen by more than 6.5% since the beginning of the month, leading to some profit booking by traders.

    The Bank of Korea Just Delivered a Surprise

    Chinese inflation falls

    Meanwhile, consumer price inflation across China rose by 2.0% in May on an annual basis against expectations of a 2.3% rise. Prices contracted by 0.5% in May, as compared to expectations of a 0.2% decline. Chinese ETFs (FXI) (MCHI) and (ASHR) were declining on June 9, prior to closing on account of the local holiday.

    Japanese indexes continue to correct

    The Japanese Nikkei 225 corrected by nearly 1% on June 9, 2016, after machinery orders added further disappointment to the Japanese economy. Machinery orders fell by 8.2% on a year-over-year basis in April, as compared to forecasts a 2% decline.

    Relatedly, the unemployment rate in the Philippines rose in the second quarter to 6.1%, despite the 5.8% rate last quarter. Thai (THD) consumer confidence in May came in marginally lower at 72.6, while retail sales in Indonesia came in slightly below estimates of 11.1% at 10.4%.

  • Korea to Develop Quick-time Consumption Index

    Korea to Develop Quick-time Consumption Index

    Statistics Korea revealed Tuesday that it’s developing what it calls a ‘quick-time consumption index’ based on civilian credit card approval information provided by the Credit Finance Association (CFA).

    The new index will use big data related to credit card approval information from eight domestic credit card companies, and is expected to launch in October.

    The CFA-provided information consists of approved credit card transactions categorized by date, 17 cities and provinces, and 178 business categories. To further broaden the index, Statistics Korea will also use additional credit card approval information from more specific types of businesses such as department stores and supermarkets.

    Statistics Korea expects the new index to allow for quicker observation of the ‘production index for the service industry’ and ‘retail sales index’, with an improvement of approximately three weeks, which in turn will permit quicker responses to economic changes.

    “The total approved credit card transactions take up 76 percent of all consumption and sales, which will make this new index quite reliable,” said an official from Statistics Korea.

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  • Is There a Tech Bubble in China?

    Is There a Tech Bubble in China?

    Wealthy Chinese investors are in a bind. All the usual, typically safe investment vehicles—commodities, stocks, even stable real estate—have been anything but usual or safe over the last couple months. The Chinese economy has slowed and inflation has picked up, the yuan has been under pressure, oil has tanked, and gold markets have been rattled. Real-estate markets in previously inviolable zip codes like Manhattan, a longtime sure bet for foreign investors looking to park their money in the stability of multi-million-dollar apartments, have started to sway.

    With the new reality of so much risk and little hope for returns in these markets, Chinese investors are pushing their money toward technology start-ups, according to Reuters. Investments in these companies more than doubled last year, according to CB Insights research, leaping to $32.2 billion. So far this year, venture-capital investments have already climbed to $4.7 billion. That stands in stark contrast to the Shanghai Composite Index, which is down nearly 20 percent in 2016. Established-enough Chinese start-ups like the ride-hailing Uber competitor Didi Kuaidi have benefited the most. The company saw its valuation jump 25 percent to about $20 billion—dwarfing its American competitors.

    We’ve watched this movie before in the U.S. As investors got tired of waiting to wade back into the muck of traditional markets in the wake of the financial crisis, they looked for new places to strike gold. They set their sights out West, to Silicon Valley, pouring their money into small start-ups with huge funding rounds, hoping for a payday. The result was the birth of dozens of new billion-dollar companies. On a hope, a prayer, and the blood, sweat, and tears of many a millennial, these unicorns hung on and continued to raise money. But now, the chickens are coming home to roost.

    Last month, Fidelity marked down investments in 19 start-ups, including onetime Silicon Valley standouts Dropbox and Zenefits (the markdown, however, seems like the least of Zenefits’s worries). Millennial darling Snapchat got similar treatment from Fidelity last fall. Others, like Jawbone, and again, Zenefits, have laid off workers. Funding has started to dry up, yet even those able to raise capital are struggling. Oscar, the health-care app pegged to Obamacare exchanges, closed a round last month that boosted its valuation to $2.7 billion. But on Tuesday, the company reported that it was bleeding money, losing more than $100 million in 2015.

    American investors thought they were trading risky investments for the kinds of returns they could only dream of, but it appears the risk in their their start-up bets were just as great. Now, as Chinese investors make similar calculations, they may face a similar fate.

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  • Lotte aims to take slice of Indonesia’s credit card industry

    Lotte aims to take slice of Indonesia’s credit card industry

    South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group announced its plans to delve into the credit card market in Indonesia following a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during his state visit to the East Asian nation last month.

    In a one-on-one meeting with President Jokowi on May 16 in Seoul, Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin conveyed the company’s plans to advance its business and investment in Indonesia, including an idea to venture into the credit card market.

    “The Lotte’s management have told us that they want to invest in cinema, theme parks and the credit card business in Indonesia,” Creative Economy Agency head Triawan Munaf said recently.

    The company’s chain of hotels, amusement parks and duty-free shops generated more than 5.1 trillion won ( US$4.38 billion ) in revenue last year, Bloomberg reported.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the group was eager to invest further in Indonesia as it had seen potential.

    With Lotte Mart having first opened its doors in Indonesia in 1993, the company, which employs 9,000 people in Indonesia, has become a major retail player in the country. It also operates Lotte Department Store with two duty-free stores, the Angel-in-us Coffee coffeehouse chain and Lotteria fast food chain.

    In 2013, the group opened Lotte Shopping Avenue near the busy Mega Kuningan central business district in Jakarta. It is a large-scale shopping complex that hosts its affiliates, including Lotte Department Store, a duty-free store and Lotteria.

    Despite having yet to hear Lotte’s plan, Indonesian Credit Card Association ( AKKI ) general manager Steve Marta said the South Korean group had actually engaged in a discussion with the association two years ago regarding its idea to enter the domestic credit card industry.

    “However, we haven’t heard any news from Lotte since then. As far as I know, the company started a partnership with Bank Negara Indonesia’s [BNI] credit card business,” he said on Friday, referring to the state-owned lender.

    Separately, BNI consumer banking director Anggoro Eko Cahyo said the bank had a partnership with Lotte Mart Indonesia through a co-branding credit card product called “BNI Lotte Mart Card”, which was launched in 2011.

    Bank Indonesia, which also supervises and regulates the country’s payment system, is yet to receive a report from Lotte Group on its plan to enter the domestic credit card market, Deputy Governor Ronald Waas said.

    “They are welcome, but we haven’t yet heard anything from them,” he said.

    As a potential new player in the credit card business in Indonesia, home to over 250 million people, Lotte still has an opportunity to penetrate the local market. There are currently only 16.9 million credit cards circulating in the country, Steve said.

    However, he said new players were expected to start venturing in non-traditional types of credit card market as existing issuers were largely concentrated in Jakarta and other big cities with similar customer profiles.

    “It would be better for new players to seek alternative customer profiling, such as micro and small and medium enterprise [MSME] segments. This will also help increase non-cash transactions in the country,” he said.

    The country saw 23.6 million credit card transactions worth Rp 22.1 trillion booked by 23 issuers in April, Bank Indonesia data shows.

    If its credit card operation in Indonesia is confirmed, Lotte will become the country’s second non-bank credit card issuer after AEON Credit Services, a consumer financing firm subsidiary of Japan’s conglomerate AEON Group.

    Despite the country’s credit card market being dominated by banks, Steve said non-bank credit card issuers still had good prospects as they owned captive markets amid a new global trend in which various multinational companies, such as airlines, had started to issue their own payment cards.

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  • Bank Indonesia Reduces RTGS to Rp100 mn

    Bank Indonesia Reduces RTGS to Rp100 mn

    Bank Indonesia will reduce the minimum limit of fund transfer through the instrument of “Real Time Gross Settlement” (RTGS) to Rp100 million from Rp500 million at present. The new limit would be effective as from July 1, a Central Banks Executive Director Bramudija Hadinoto said on Monday, June 7, 2016.

    The reason for the cut is that the Central Bank wants transfer of fund larger than Rp100 million is allowed for certain appropriation as fund larger than Rp100 million is already put in the category of non retail fund. RTGS is an electronic transfer system at real time. The central bank has two systems of fund transfer — RTGS and clearing systems. RTGS transfer is done at once and clearing take a process of two hours .

    The cut in the minimum limit of fund transfer through RTGS, is expected to result in an increase in frequency of transfers to 55,000 times from normally 39,000 times a day from and clearing transactions are expected to decline in frequency from 470,000 times to 450,000 times day.

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  • BRI Goes Digital for Cashless Society Program

    BRI Goes Digital for Cashless Society Program

    Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) has been revamping its digital banking services as part of its “cashless society” program and in support of the central bank’s Non-Cash Payment Movement (GNNT), a senior BRI official said last week.

    BRI Consumer Director Sis Apik Wijayanto said the top small-business lender intends to reduce cash to a minimum for every transaction.

    “This is the digital era, tech support is crucial. The goal is to improve payment efficiency and offer customers  the utmost convenience,” Sis said.

  • Mary Buffett Launches Jitta.com for Bangkok Investors

    Mary Buffett Launches Jitta.com for Bangkok Investors

    Mary Buffett, the former daughter-in-law of famed investor Warren Buffett, helped launch Jitta.com last week, a platform aimed at retail stock investors in Thailand’s capital. Ms. Buffett brings the Buffett know-how to Bangkok to appeal to investors hoping to become as good as the famous stock picker.

    Co-author of the best-selling book “Buffetology,” Mary is putting her name behind the Jitta startup. After testing the platform for herself, Ms. Buffett found it to be an impressive tool for investors.

    Mary’s endorsement of Jitta.com is an obvious boost for the Thai-based startup, which is looking to make it big on the international retail investment scene.

    Ms. Buffett met with Jitta.com founder Trawut Luangsomboon three years ago, and was one of the initial investors in the project. The start-up launched in the U.S. in 2014.

    Jitta uses Warren Buffett’s investment style to simplify retail investment and make it easy for most individuals to get started. Buffett’s style is primarily focused on buying great stocks when they’re undervalued.

    When shares drop below Jitta’s “fair price,” investors are encouraged the buy the stock – just as Warren Buffet would do.

    Through the adoption of Buffetology’s key elements, this platform helps investors minimize risk while doing their due diligence.

    Jitta covers stocks in Singapore, U.S., Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

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  • CIMB’s Corporate Card Solutions to see big growth

    CIMB’s Corporate Card Solutions to see big growth

    CIMB Bank Bhd’s newly-launched Corporate Card Solutions is expected to gain significant growth momentum, given that it is a gamechanger in the market.

    In collaboration with MasterCard, the CIMB Corporate Card Solutions offers convenience, control and transparency for business operational expenditure, through its corporate card, purchasing card and virtual card solutions.

    “We are very excited about this launch because the corporate segment has been a domain of the consumer segment in the past.

    “This is a very new solution, for us and in the market as well.

    “A lot of banks now do not do this business,” said CIMB Group transaction banking head Thomas Tan after the launch ceremony yesterday.

    New cards: (from left) MasterCard South-East Asia Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei group country manager and Islamic payments group head Safdar Khan, Zafrul, MasterCard Asia/Pacific co-president Ari Sarker, and Tan having a closer look at the mock credit cards at the launch of CIMB’s Corporate Card Solutions.

    The Corporate Card Solutions offers unique, customised solutions for companies, such as setting spending limits and customising merchant categories by each individual card holder, with real-time overview of employees’ travel and entertainment expenditure.

    Meanwhile, the purchasing card automates the company’s procurement process by capturing card transactions in real time, which facilitates account reconciliation.

    Companies also have the option to decide on the billing cycles, like a 45-day or 60-day credit interest-free period, unlike consumer credit cards which have one determined billing cycle.

    As for the virtual card solution, businesses can randomly generate a 16-digit virtual card number that is associated with a specific payment, which is then securely transmitted to a specific supplier when payment is due.

    Data is captured real time and matching a unique virtual card number to a specific payment improves reconciliation and aids data analysis.

    These solutions help optimise cash flow, enabling businesses to operate more efficiently through the entire value chain.

    “In today’s business environment where cost management is a high priority, it is our aspiration to help organisations to significantly improve their operational and cost efficiency by automating their transactional flows.

    “These solutions offer unique savings features by optimising cashflows and working capital.

    “Our digital banking solutions such as these are also a response to Bank Negara Malaysia’s call for a reduction in the usage of cheques from 207 million in 2011 to 100 million by 2020,” said CIMB Group chief executive Tengku Datuk Sri Zafrul Aziz.

    The CIMB Corporate Card Solutions is targeted towards government and state agencies, small and medium enterprises (SME) as well as corporate sectors.

    Prior to yesterday’s official launch, CIMB had converted five corporate clients to its Corporate Card Solutions during the soft launch.