Singapore – Two financial services platforms dedicated to SMEs in Asia – Opal and Funding Societies – have partnered to offer Opal’s ecosystem of clients and partners in Singapore a range of financing solutions. Funding Societies specializes in providing short-term financing to SMEs, and needless to say that this will be one of the main offerings of the partnership.
Opal is currently operating solely in Singapore and it aims to be the unified account for all of SMEs’ payments and loans in the country. It eyes to help businesses accelerate growth by simplifying cross-border payments, maximizing cost savings, and providing easier and cheaper access to trade financing & credit facilities.
Under the partnership with Funding Societies, Opal will offer Funding Societies’ range of solutions such as micro loans, term loans, and invoice financing, at a relatively lower rate and a quicker processing time. Further, to reduce the financial burden on SMEs in Singapore, Opal and Funding Societies will reduce processing fees on all disbursals up to 50% of the loan amount and offer a full waiver of the facility fee on all line products. This is alongside Opal’s main solutions of cross-border money transfer and multi-currency accounts.
Lim Ming Wang, co-founder of Opal, refers to a study by Singapore’s MAS where growth of businesses in the Lion City is forecast to be robust but uneven in 2021.
“As a company that is focused on SMEs in Singapore, we want to be able to assist businesses at their time of growth who are looking for solutions to strengthen their cash flow,” said Lim.
Lim adds, “We are excited about this partnership as businesses can now have access to multi-currency management, payments, and financing solutions from a single platform on Opal. As our technology is driven by the interconnectivity of these different financial-business solutions, companies will get even better rates and faster turnaround times.”
Meanwhile, Shrawan Saraogi, head of partnerships and products at Funding Societies, commented, “As a FinTech founded with the mission to uplift economies, we believe in helping SMEs obtain access to financing solutions that are easy and fair. We want to help them by providing the impetus for growth. I believe this partnership is ideal, as we would be able to support Opal’s ecosystem of clients and partners with our wide range of growth financing solutions.”
Opal is licensed in Singapore, but has clients and client counterparties in Europe, the US, Israel, and the rest of SEA.
