KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 3): CIMB Bank Bhd and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd have introduced the CIMB Sole Proprietor & Partnership proposition, which offers a full suite of solutions for sole proprietors and partnerships to make starting and running a small business more smooth and hassle-free.

The two banks have worked with 12 business partners to provide exclusive offers and special rates for various business solutions, CIMB Group said in a statement today.

The 12 partners are Digi, Exabytes, ARMS, Billplz, NEXT Academy, Dojo, Genius POS, EasyParcel, EasyStore, Exabytes Digital, Nomad and Sandbox.

The proposition is anchored on five pillars — banking operation account; payment, collection and courier services; funding and support; work space and connectivity; and digital solutions.

Samir Gupta, CEO of CIMB Group's Consumer Banking, said 97.7% of Malaysia's SME businesses are in the small and micro enterprise category and every year, 260,000 new start-ups are registered.

"Starting a business is exciting, but operationalising it can be overwhelming, and this is where the CIMB Sole Proprietor & Partnership proposition helps our customers on kick starting and running their enterprise, so that they can really focus on producing and marketing their great products and services," Samir said.

CIMB Bank and CIMB Islamic's customers will have exclusive access to specially priced or packaged solutions ranging from electronic payments, point-of-sale software and services, logistics and co-working space, to marketing and branding, web connectivity and e-commerce.

Samir also said the proposition is in support of the government's call for the private sector to help grow Malaysian SMEs as announced in Budget 2019.

"This is what CIMB hopes to achieve with our partners, who are well-known names in their respective fields, and have been carefully chosen to complement CIMB's offerings. This is another great milestone in CIMB's journey to continuously enhance and add real value to our customers' experience," he said.

To enjoy the benefits and special packages under the CIMB Sole Proprietor & Partnership proposition, business owners need to sign-up for a CIMB Business Current Account/-i, which can be opened from the comfort of their home or office.