KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd in collaboration with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) today launched the SME X Platform to further support corporate fundraising and business investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The SME X Platform is designed to facilitate fundraising to support SMEs in their growth and business expansion, by connecting them with capital providers such as private equity firms, venture capitalists or other financial institutions seeking to invest in companies with good financial standing and growth potential.
Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said as a multi-asset exchange, it is constantly looking at innovations to grow the market, and better serve stakeholders’ needs by employing data and technology.
The launch of the SME X Platform supports a key imperative of the exchange to help companies raise funds for growth expansion, he said.
“With the platform, we are helping to narrow the gap between quality companies with the need to raise funds, and parties with capital to deploy in the form of equity through Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), debt fundraising through Bursa Malaysia RAM Capital Sdn Bhd, as well as private entities, venture capitals, and other financial institutions,” he said at the launch of SME X Platform here, today.
The SME X Platform ensues from the memorandum of understanding signed between Bursa Malaysia and SSM at end-2022, which among others was to enhance data analytics for strategic business decisions in line with the National Data Sharing Policy (NDSP).
The online platform enhances decision-making for financial institutions and investment entities by offering a blend of Bursa Malaysia market data and data from SSM, comprising sectoral performance, evaluation of key financials, indicators of companies with the potential to list, and comparison of companies within the same sector.
Additionally, the platform includes detailed insights on companies’ directors and management, shareholding structure and key financials to provide context and a deeper understanding of the financial standing of each company, as well as its subsidiaries and affiliated companies with common shareholders.
Meanwhile, SSM CEO Datuk Nor Azimah Abdul Aziz said that in facilitating the seamless integration of data within this platform, the commission has contributed the Corporate Business Information Data (CBID) consisting of over 650,000 companies’ data, comprising key statutory information on companies, which includes financial data from about 200,000 companies that recorded high revenue over the past three years.
“The data contribution from SSM, combined with data from Bursa Malaysia, constitutes a significant step towards fostering a robust data ecosystem of companies, enriching capabilities within the platform and ensuring the provision of current and valuable insights for informed decision-making,” she said.
As at December 31, 2023, over 9.1 million businesses and over 35,000 limited liability partnerships have been registered with SSM while over 1.5 million companies have been incorporated with the commission, out of which 1.643 million are active businesses, 34,038 active limited liability partnerships and 666,767 active companies.
The SME X Platform is currently in its initial roll-out phase and is accessible on a subscription basis. — Bernama
