UOB scales up offerings for small businesses across region

As part of efforts to scale its offerings to small businesses across the region, United Overseas Bank has announced a series of solutions targeting different pain points. 

These include an announcement on Monday that the bank had renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Guangxi LiuGong Machinery to extend machinery financing solutions for the latter's vendors and customers in the region. 

Under the terms of the new MOU, UOB will develop an end buyer financing credit framework and offer asset financing and hire purchase or lease financing to LiuGong's customers in Indonesia and Thailand.

The bank will also provide LiuGong's supply chain with other financial solutions such as cash management, trade finance, working capital loans and hedging facilities. 

Separately, UOB announced last week that it is helping small businesses build customised e-commerce websites through the integration of Shopmatic's digital solutions into UOB BizSmart. 

According to a survey conducted by the bank, close to four in five small businesses across ASEAN that plan to invest in information technology said they are looking to either set up a new website or to enhance their existing one.  However, 70 per cent of these businesses said they do not have the relevant digital knowledge or experience to do so.

The tie-up with Shopmatic allows small businesses to build an e-commerce website in a fraction of the time that is usually required to build such sites, said the bank in a statement.