News Release - 31 May 2018

UOB Malaysia and Funding Societies to help start-ups and small businesses accelerate their business growth with access to alternative funding solutions

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 31 May 2018 – United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) today announced it will partner with Modalku Ventures Sdn Bhd (Funding Societies), a regional peer-to-peer (P2P) digital financing platform, to connect start-ups and small businesses with alternative financing options to help them progress faster through different stages of growth.

Through the partnership, start-ups and UOB Malaysia's small business customers can access Funding Societies' global investor network to raise additional working capital. UOB Malaysia's customers will be able to raise up to RM500,000 in capital directly from individual and institutional investors using Funding Societies' online P2P platform without the need to pledge collateral.

Mr Raymond Chui, Executive Director and Country Head of SME banking at UOB Malaysia, said that the partnership with Funding Societies reinforces the Bank's commitment to support Malaysia's small businesses as they progress through different stages of growth.

"At UOB Malaysia, we have a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges that small businesses face and the support they require. We recognise that businesses in the early stages of growth can sometimes find it difficult to gain access to additional working capital due to a lack of collateral, credit history, or business track record. By working with Funding Societies, we can offer new business owners who are just starting out a viable alternative to traditional bank loans."

"Our teams will also help businesses improve productivity by providing scalable digital solutions that help streamline and automate their administrative systems and processes. As these businesses increase in scale and establish a track record, we will be able to extend a wider range of term-financing solutions to them. This ensures we can help companies to progress through different stages of growth more rapidly, Mr Chui said.

Mr Ryo Gim, Business Development Director of Funding Societies Malaysia, said the partnership with UOB Malaysia will help build greater awareness of P2P lending with Malaysia's start-ups and small business owners.

"Since we launched the Funding Societies platform in February 2017, we have grown from strength to strength. We have so far disbursed more than RM40 million in financing to businesses while maintaining a zero per cent default rate and serving more than 10,000 investors."

"As P2P financing is still in its early stages of development in Malaysia, we have focused on and will continue to focus on building greater awareness among Malaysian business owners on how Funding Societies complements the traditional banking sector. We are here to provide short-term collateral-free financing solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises to expand their business or to support them through challenging times," Mr Gim said.

SMEs who are interested to learn more about the alternative funding opportunities provided by UOB Malaysia and Funding Societies can visit UOB Malaysia branches nationwide for more information.

¹ Peer-to-peer lending, or P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders with borrowers.

²UOB Malaysia defines its small business customers with RM40 million turnover and below.

³ UOB Malaysia defines start-ups as businesses which are registered and have been in operation for less than three years