Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) has collaborated with another financial institution, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) to offer financing to PETRONAS’ Oil and Gas Service Equipment (OGSE) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) vendors under the Vendor Financing Programme.
At a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange ceremony to mark the bank’s participation in the programme here today, PETRONAS was represented by its Vice President of Group Procurement, Project Delivery and Technology (PD&T) Liza Mustapha, while Bank Muamalat was represented by its Head of Business Banking Division, Nor Hamidah Abu Bakar.
Also present were Bank Muamalat Chief Executive Officer Khairul Kamaruddin, and PETRONAS Senior Vice President of PD&T Samsudin Miskon.
At the event, Samsudin said that PETRONAS constantly seeks innovative solutions for the mutual benefit of all parties, in its efforts to drive the overall growth of the Malaysian oil and gas sector.
He thanked the participating financial institutions for their commitment, adding that the initiative is in support of the government’s move to stimulate SME business growth and in line with PETRONAS’ brand positioning that is “Passionate about Progress” through shared success.
“We are encouraged by the financial institutions’ contributions in this collective and holistic endeavour to support local OGSE vendors. We are even more encouraged by the achievements of our vendors, who have not only managed to stay afloat through the difficult times, but more importantly to stay resilient and propel their business growth,” he said.
Samsudin also urged PETRONAS’ main contractors to play a larger role in helping their sub-contractors secure financing facilities under this programme.
PETRONAS’ OGSE Vendor Financing Programme was established in May 2018 to assist Malaysian OGSE vendors impacted by the oil price crisis in securing working capital and improving their cash flow to stay afloat.
Facilitating the banks in their due diligence, PETRONAS assists in vendor verification that results in a simplified risk assessment process and shorter approval time. As of 31st October, 111 applications with a total amount of RM730.1MIL have been approved.
With Bank Muamalat on board, there are now eight panel banks in the programme. The others are Bank Islam, Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), RHB Bank, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, United Overseas Bank (UOB), Export-Import Bank Malaysia Berhad (EXIM) and Bank Rakyat.
Following the exchange of the MoU, vendors of PETRONAS will now have the accessibility to opt for financing of up to RM5 million per application from Bank Muamalat. The financing products offered in this programme are the Revolving Facilities (M-Cash), Letter of Credit and Bank Guarantees.
This programme will be supported by Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan (SJPP), which provides the guarantee schemes as an alternative to collateral requirements by the bank.
