Malaysia Debt Ventures launches shari'ah-compliant Bumiputera Technology Fund

Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Minister of Finance Inc., in collaboration with Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU), has launched the Bumiputera Technology Fund (BTF) for technology-based companies in an effort to facilitate their business expansion through shari'ah-compliant working capital and asset financing facilities.

The development of the new BTF programme is a step forward in the collaboration between MDV and TERAJU, which has helped to create a pipeline of quality and sustainable bumiputera* entrepreneurs. MDV and TERAJU are continuing the momentum with the new fund, totalling RM100 million. Bumiputera technology-based companies that are listed under TERAJU’s SUPERB and Syarikat Bumiputera Berprestasi Tinggi (TERAS) programmes are eligible for BTF funding..

Nizam Mohamed Nadzri, MDV’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Services said, “The BTF is envisaged to ensure a more comprehensive financing ecosystem for bumiputera companies, in particular, technology-based companies. The fund also targets to fill in the funding gap that exists for startups under SUPERB, as a follow-on funding programme to the grants received from TERAJU.”

He further explained that the BTF is a progressive proposition for MDV from the perspective of MDV’s dual mandate to provide development financing and nurturing to technology SMEs in a sustainable manner, particularly as the fund will fund graduates of the SUPERB programme who may require nurturing to achieve their goals.

Apart from improving access to finance, particularly for startups in the technology sector, the shari'ah-compliant fund also serves to fulfill customer demand for more diverse Islamic facilities.

“The BTF will intensify MDV’s contribution in further strengthening the Malaysian Government’s commitment to develop the Bumiputera Economic Community as well as to establish the country as an Islamic financing hub in the region,” said Nizam.

To be eligible for financing under the BTF programme, TERAS and SUPERB companies must be incorporated in Malaysia with a minimum paid-up capital of RM100,000 and possess viable projects that are within the technology space. Financing facilities offered will be from a minimum of RM500,000 to a maximum of RM5 million. All applications made for financing under the fund will be subject to assessment based on MDV’s credit risk criteria as well as risk assessment processes, which are geared towards financing technology companies and projects.

MDV was established by the government of Malaysia in 2002 to provide flexible, innovative credit financing to developing high-impact and technology-driven sectors of the economy, identified and prioritised by the government as future engines of growth. As one of the agencies in Malaysia solely focusing on technology-related sectors, MDV aims to be the leading technology financier in the country. Since its establishment more than a decade ago, MDV has financed numerous technology projects in various sectors as it strives to fulfil its mandate and developmental role in the technology industry.

*Also spelt 'bumiputra', the term typically refers to people of indigenous Malay ethnicity.

Al Rajhi Bank teams up with Bumitra to promote debit card to Malaysian pilgrims

Source: Al Rajhi Bank. From left, Harith Mohd Ali, Dato' Syed Mohd Razif Al Yahya, Bumitra Malaysia
President, Datuk Azrulnizam Abdul Aziz, Al Rajhi Bank CEO, Wan Mohd Ghazni,
Acting Director Retail Banking, Al Rajhi Bank,
and Yasmin Junos, Head of Wealth
and Cards, Al Rajhi Bank.

Al Rajhi Bank and Bumiputra Travel and Tour agents Association of Malaysia (Bumitra) have agreed to promote the Al Rajhi Bank Hijrah Priority Debit Card during the hajj season, as well as to umrah pilgrims.

“Bumitra is an established name in the travel industry and have been a valued customer of Al Rajhi Bank for many years. This collaboration which is a natural process in a relationship built on trust, will enable Al Rajhi Bank to tap into Bumitra’s members of almost 500 Muslim travel agents and travel providers. On a yearly basis Bumitra manages over 170,000 umrah pilgrims from Malaysia alone. With that figure, we estimate that the number of ATM withdrawals from this group alone is roughly over 350,000 transactions with a value of around RM510 million,” said Datuk Azrulnizam Abdul Aziz, CEO of Al Rajhi Bank.

Yasmin Junus, Head of Wealth and Cards at Al Rajhi Bank said in her speech, “Al Rajhi Bank proposes to offer Al Rajhi Bank Hijrah Priority Debit Card convenience to Bumitra’s customer base during the Hajj season at over 3,200 ATMs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The card comes with the convenience of cash withdrawal at competitive rates per transaction in Makkah and Madinah, as well as the convenience of purchasing at any merchant which accepts Visa cards.”

Al Rajhi also launched the AlRajhi ATM Haramain debit card campaign will offer customers additional savings and prizes when they carry out ATM cash withdrawals in KSA during the hajj season.

Al Rajhi Bank, the largest Islamic banking group in the world, is most well known for its retail offering in Malaysia. It maintains a full suite of products including corporate banking, treasury as well as investment banking. The bank has 24 branches across Malaysia with its flagship affluent branch located in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.