CIMB Bank Bhd and Lazada Malaysia (Lazada) have signed a partnership agreement that enables Lazada merchants to apply for small and medium enterprise (SME) loans.

Under the agreement, the bank offers CIMB Bank's Enterprise Clean Loans (ECL) to Lazada merchants to support the expansion of Malaysian SMEs.

"The collaboration is a joint effort by CIMB Bank and Lazada, an online shopping and selling destination, to provide a holistic solution and added convenience to empower local SMEs to grow their business.

"This customised ECL, a non-collateral financing with competitive interest rates, offers financing of up to RM300,000 per company with loan tenures of up to five years," they said in a joint statement.

CIMB Bank is the consumer-banking arm of CIMB Group, offering retail and commercial banking services.

CIMB Group chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the collaboration is another initiative that strives to meet the evolving and growing digital needs of the customers, particularly in the eCommerce space.

"Apart from contributing to the development of the Malaysian SME sector, which is expected to contribute 41 per cent to the country's GDP by 2020, we are also enabling more merchants to embrace digital banking.

"This not only from a retail sales perspective, but also in terms of financing their businesses and availing themselves of our business advisory for their operations through digital offerings such as Clicks/BizChannel, Plug n Pay and C@W," he said.

Lazada Malaysia CEO Hans-Peter Ressel said with approximately 12,000 sellers on board, the collaboration is a strong testament of helping merchants succeed online.

"The partnership with CIMB Bank affirms the strategic choices Lazada has made in building the eCommerce ecosystem in Malaysia.

"It will bring significant synergies by giving Lazada merchants the option to enhance their online business and provide their customers with the best choices, convenience and value," he said.

SMEs interested in applying for ECL or any of CIMB Bank’s business financing solution may contact CIMB Bank at +603 2619 1463 or visit www.cimbbank.com for more information.