SME digital financier Funding Societies will be expanding its Halal financing portfolio as it doubles down on its Islamic finance business in Malaysia.
“In line with our commitment toward uplifting the local SMEs, we are looking to introduce new products this year, including extending our Islamic financing offerings. We look towards forging new industry partnerships to enable us to deepen our reach to the underserved, creditworthy SMEs,” shared Funding Societies Malaysia’s country head, Chai Kien Poon.
The platform is expecting to launch its Islamic micro and term financing this month.
Operating in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, Funding Societies first forayed into Islamic finance with a Shariah compliant trade financing solution in May last year through its Malaysian arm.
In an interview with IFN Fintech last year, Chai Kien Poon, shared that the firm’s plan is to have a Shariah compliant proposition across its product lineup.
Founded in 2015, Funding Societies offers a range of short-term financing solutions; it entered the payments and collections business in 2017. As at the end of 2022, it disbursed US$3 billion in financing to almost 100,000 SMEs through over five million transactions; in Malaysia, it disbursed RM2 billion (US$450.81 million) in financing since its inception in 2017. Overall platform cohort default rate stood at under 2%.