KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 28): Axiata Group Bhd (KL:AXIATA) said on Wednesday that its digital banking arm Boost Bank is poised to offer small and medium enterprise (SME) loans in October after its micro-financing arm Boost Credit completes its loan book transfers to Boost Bank by September.

At a virtual press conference, Axiata’s chief executive officer cum managing director Vivek Sood said the loan book transfers will facilitate Boost Bank to provide financing services, such as working capital and supply chain loans, to its SME customers.

He said the loan interface in Boost’s app is expected to start in October once the transfer of customers is completed.

“This should start giving us the revenues as well as the benefits of the existing loan book. So I think the traction has been good as we also see a roadmap ahead of us on introducing new products," said Sood.

He added: "We joined and started on June 6. We were never in the hurry of going extremely fast. I think what we want to ensure is that we go right. We go through things after we've been comfortable that the customer experience is not getting impacted."

Sood said Boost Bank’s total loan book now is around RM100 million, while deposits are also around RM100 million.

The digital bank is also looking to launch a debit card in September.

Thus far, Sood said, Axiata has partnered with Mydin as well as CelcomDigi and is looking at some partnership opportunities with Sarawak in the near future.

According to Axiata’s results on Wednesday, Boost Bank’s cumulative six-month revenue grew 7.1% year-on-year, while earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) loss narrowed by 17.2% on the back of lower marketing and staff cost.

Overall, Boost Bank’s ecosystem continues to grow, with Boost Life users expanding 2% year-on-year to 11.2 million and Malaysian merchants rising 8.1% to 656,000.

The digital bank is a 60:40 joint venture between Axiata’s 78%-owned Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd (KL:RHBBANK). Axiata’s unit Axiata Digital Services Sdn Bhd holds a 78% stake in Boost Holdings, while Great Eastern Digital Pvt Ltd owns the remaining 22% equity interest.