KUALA LUMPUR, 28 JULY 2022 - After a long period of easy monetary policy, the global interest rate hike appears to be imminent. Leading to this, are the heated concerns surrounding inflation, geopolitical conflict and rising fuel prices - all of which are connected. With inflation already high in many parts of the world, military conflict between Russia and Ukraine pushes inflation even higher as energy prices soar and more supply chains are disrupted.

In response to these developments, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has increased the overnight policy rate (OPR) by a total of 50 basis points (bps) to 2.25% since May 2022, in tandem with the global monetary policy tightening cycle to combat rising inflationary pressures.

At times of heightened uncertainty, diversification is even more crucial for investors to maintain a stable portfolio. Funding Societies, the largest small and medium enterprises (SME) digital financing platform in Southeast Asia, is committed to offer a variety of lower risk investment products on the platform to help investors earn more consistent returns through its Dealer Financing and Guaranteed Investment Notes (GIN), and with more products in the pipeline.

Chai Kien Poon, Country Head of Funding Societies Malaysia, said, “We constantly innovate to offer more investment products to meet the needs of most investors’ investment objectives and risk appetite across business cycles. Case in point, with the current developments of the global economy and potential spillover to local markets, our Guaranteed Investment Notes (GIN) which offer more consistent (albeit lower returns) - where the non-repayment or default risk are guaranteed by an appointed guaranteeing entity instead of the investors themselves - may appeal to investors who have a more cautious outlook in the short to medium time horizon. We introduced GIN during the height of the Covid pandemic and it was well received by investors.”

“By introducing GIN, we are able to meet our three objectives of (1) availing our investors more investment opportunities for portfolio diversification, (2) offering lower risk investment products for investors with different investment objectives and risk appetites, and (3) to continue providing more Malaysian SMEs with financing solutions to meet their business capital requirements,” added Chai.

With Funding Societies’ GIN, investors have the opportunity to tap into an additional investment portfolio that preserves their capital and simultaneously provides returns on their investment. GIN investors stand to a net return of up to 6 percent per annum before fees, with a minimum investment of RM100 per note. Since its soft launch in March 2021, Funding Societies has successfully raised more than RM75 million in financing disbursement across more than 1,000 GIN notes benefiting close to 1,200 underserved SMEs.

Funding Societies is a recognized market operator registered with the Securities Commission of Malaysia with a presence in several SEA countries including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Since its inception, the digital platform has reached over RM10 billion in disbursement across more than 5 million financing deals regionally.

In conjunction with the upcoming Independence Day and Malaysia Day celebrations, Funding Societies will also be running a promotional campaign for GIN. Please visit https://fundingsocieties.com.my/promotions for more information on the latest promotions. For further information on GIN, please visit https://fundingsocieties.com.my/guaranteed-investment.