Bursa Malaysia Berhad has on Tuesday launched the SME X Platform in collaboration with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), to further support corporate fundraising and business investment opportunities.
Bursa Malaysia said in a statement that 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).
According to the statement, the SME X Platform is designed to facilitate fundraising to support small and medium enterprises (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.
“As a multi-asset exchange, we are constantly looking at innovations to grow the market, and better serve stakeholders needs, by employing data and technology,” said Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia.
According to him, the launch of the SME X Platform supports a key imperative of the exchange to help companies raise funds for growth expansion.
“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 BR Capital, as well as private entities, venture capitals, and other financial institutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, SSM Chief Executive Officer Nor Azimah Abdul Aziz said that in facilitating the seamless integration of data within this platform, SSM has contributed the Corporate Business Information Data (CBID) consisting of over 650,000 company 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 added.
Wong Chiun Chiek, Director of Bursa Intelligence, said that as part of their data acquisition plans, at Bursa Malaysia, they now have rich and varied datasets from their various collaborations.
“Our repository of data spans the capital market, fund flows, private entities (in collaboration with SSM), macroeconomic insights (in collaboration with Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)), and our Centralized Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) platform that consolidates environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related data, all hosted under our newly deployed enterprise data platform,
“We are always open to more strategic collaborations with partners to bring further innovation to support our stakeholders and develop our markets,” he added.
According to the statement, SME X is an online platform that enhances decision-making for financial institutions and investment entities by offering a blend of Bursa Malaysia market data and data from SSM, comprising sectorial performance, evaluation of key financials, indicators of companies with the potential to list, and makes comparison of companies within the same sector.
In addition, the platform includes detailed insights on companies’ directors and management, shareholding structure and key financials to provide context and a deeper understanding on the financial standing of each company, as well as its subsidiaries and affiliated companies with common shareholders.
Bursa Malaysia is Malaysian stock exchange founded in 1976 and listed in 2005. It has grown to be one of the largest bourses in ASEAN.
Bursa Malaysia operates and regulates a multi-asset exchange, offering a comprehensive range of investment, capital raising, and exchange-related facilities.
SSM is a statutory body formed as a result of a merger between the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and the Registrar of Businesses (ROB) in Malaysia which regulates companies and businesses.
SSM came into operation on 16 April 2002. Its main activity is to serve as an agency to incorporate companies, register businesses and limited liability partnerships as well as to provide company and business information to the public.
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