In a statement today, group president and CEO Aria Putera Ismail said the sukuk was priced at a competitive profit rate of 4.04% despite the challenging market and profit rate hike situation.

“It had received a good demand from local financial institutions, fund managers, insurance companies as well as government-linked investment companies,” he said.

This, he said, signified a high level of confidence from the investment community in the bank’s ability to deliver on its mandate of nurturing and developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Head of treasury Mohd Nazri Abu Samah said proceeds from the issuance would only be utilised to finance environmental, social and governance (ESG) related projects. Additionally, he said, SME Bank would be able to offer more innovative financing solutions for SMEs.

According to the bank, it is now in its second year of implementing its three-year sustainability roadmap that focuses on institutionalising the ESG culture across the bank, creating maximum ESG awareness with the customers and establishing SME Bank’s own comprehensive and customised sustainable development goal framework.