By ALIFAH ZAINUDDIN / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

BANK Islam Malaysia Bhd is working to improve financing access for Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) vendors nationwide.

The bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Petronas and Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Bhd (SJPP) yesterday to provide a targeted financial scheme for the local oil and gas services and equipment (OGSE) sector.

Bank Islam CEO Khairul Kamaruddin said the bank has taken a realistic approach towards designing innovative products to meet the need of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“Through this partnership, we are able to serve the real economy which represents one of our value-based intermediation initiatives, as well as to support the government’s initiative to enhance and stimulate the SME businesses’ growth in this country,” he said in a statement.

As at March 2018, Bank Islam financed 1,235 SME customers with a total financing worth RM2.9 billion.