AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad partners with Peoplender Sdn. Bhd. to provide Malaysia’s SMEs with complete peace of mind by protecting their businesses from the unforeseen.
To address the issues of the lack of business protection and capital constraints among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad (AAGI) has joined hands with Peoplender Sdn. Bhd., a market operator licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia to operate a peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform known as Fundaztic.
AAGI offers SMEs flexible, affordable and trade specific protection to ensure their business continuity and sustainability, while Fundaztic supports their business funding needs through P2P financing by connecting them to mass retail investors.
According to Bank Negara Malaysia, SMEs are recognised as a critical component of the country’s economy, contributing more than a third of gross domestic product (GDP) and providing job opportunities to more than four million workers in Malaysia.
“However, there is still a huge gap of financing for micro and small SMEs due to the size of their funding needs, internal banking policies, inability to provide the necessary collaterals required by banks and many other reasons. Funding is the key to drive growth and the lack of funding hampers the ability of many SMEs to scale their business,” Kristine Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Fundaztic commented.
“Having AAGI on board is a promising support for the industry and we believe our partnership will raise visibility on P2P financing as an alternative funding vehicle among local SMEs,” she added.
Crowdfunding in Malaysia is expected to grow following the introduction of regulatory frameworks for equity crowdfunding (ECF) in 2015 and P2P financing in 2016. AAGI has demonstrated its excellence as a customer-centric insurer by collaborating with a P2P financing platform to come up with innovative solutions that safeguard the SMEs’ needs.
“We know there are many underserved SMEs who are unprotected. They operate in a small or medium scale and do not usually take business protection as their priority,” said Rebecca Tan, Chief Marketing Officer & Bancassurance of AAGI.
“At AXA, we believe in empowering SMEs and providing them with complete peace of mind in their business ventures. We have gained insights on the SME industry, the insurance priority and mindset of SME owners to carefully identify their needs based on the specific trade they are operating in,” she added.
AXA Business Advantage Plus (Enhanced) is specially designed with trade specific benefits such as fire, loss of money, burglary, theft and among others. For immediate business recovery, the plan also offers prompt claims services with 20% cash advance payment within 5 working days based on initial estimate of loss.
Fundaztic provides a fair and transparent online crowdfunding platform with offerings beneficial to SMEs:
• All SSM registered SMEs are eligible to apply
• Zero legal and documentation fees
• Fast and simple online application process
• Online acceptance of terms and conditions
More information on www.axa.com.my or www.fundaztic.com.
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