KUALA LUMPUR: The global economic woes have not stopped Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFGB) from lending, said its group chief executive officer Datuk Bridget Lai.
She said while the impact of the global economic slowdown had dampened consumer confidence and business growth, thus contribequivuting to lower loans’ application, AFGB’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business segment had registered a 20% contribution to its total loan assets.
“Despite a lower-than-forecast loan approval in the last quarter of 2008, overall, the bank registered an improvement of 3% based on the year-on-year loan approval figures as at Dec 31, 2008,” she told The Edge Financial Daily via email recently.
Lai said Alliance Bank’s loan portfolio remained robust and its default rates were within acceptable levels, underpinned by a business transformation programme that the bank undertook three years ago.
“Wherever possible, we take proactive measures in dealing with customers that have cash flow problems, and we encourage our customers to share critical business decisions with us in a timely manner.
“Among options is that we assist our SME customers by advising them on restructuring or rescheduling of loans with longer repayment periods,” Lai said.
She added that under the existing circumstances, the banking group’s strategies for corporate banking remain unchanged. “Our focus remains local centric and we will continue to support clients with strong operating and management track records operating in the bank’s targeted industries and sectors,” Lai said.
Meanwhile, on trade financing, she said AFGB had not reduced support in respect of trade-related financing such as bank guarantees and acceptances, adding that most companies were now more cautious towards business expansion and focusing inwards towards business consolidation and costcutting
measures.
Nevertheless, Lai said in line with the aspirations of the government and emerging economic fundamentals, AFGB expected the oil and gas, as well as palm oil industries to remain the mainstay of the economy, presenting both shortterm and long-term opportunities for the bank to play a meaningful role as a financier and expand its business on a sustainable basis.
“In a nutshell, we remain committed to ride through this cycle together with our customers and we are confident that our selection criteria will present us with good opportunities to strengthen and enhance our cordial business relationships with existing clients and expand market share,” Lai said.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, May 18, 2009.