THE VM Group is making establishing a small business easier while fostering its growth by launching a suite of new business services.

In its first phase is a business operating savings account for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“When we say we want to transform your every day we want to transform your every day in a wholesome way,” said Assistant Vice-President of Lending solutions and business banking Latoya Williams, during a business forum with the Jamaica Observer last week.

She revealed the competitive advantages of the new account as the group moves away from being known predominantly as a mortgage institution. The business operating savings account allows businesses from micro to corporate to deposit working capital.

“So businesses, you don’t just open your operating account, you can actually move the funds through this platform, it can be wire transfers, it can be your RTGS [real-time gross settlement], cause the days of chequeing account…we’re going to be moving away from that,” she said.

In recognising that small businesses will at some point need capital to grow, she says opening up the account also comes with additional perks such as tips from business bankers on how to position and scale the businesses.

“A lot of people don’t realise that it is important just to pass the funds through your account because that is how you will now be able to qualify if you want to borrow even if you’re moving from your personal to your business capacity,” said Williams.

She added that the aim of the account is to meet members where they are without making the process tedious by having high requirements.

“You don’t have to be this large corporate [company] that comes to the table with these audited financials for the past 10 years and it becomes a cumbersome and complex process,” said Williams.

One of the major benefits of the account, she highlighted, was its solid rate of interest.

“In some other institutions, you may earn an interest or they may even charge you just to have the account; there is no charge for having this account,” Williams tooted.

The business operating savings account, which was launched last year, is the first of many ventures into offering new business services to attract its members who are in the market to purchase commercial property or commercial vehicles. Williams explained that some tradesmen will need the capital to invest in their services to move their supplies.

They also launched the business part of their online banking services to support businesses to move their funds digitally.

“That’s where we’re going, that’s where we’re evolving in short order, so we’re putting all that work in place to ensure we can meet the need of our business owners, at some point we will also offer business credit cards,” Williams said.

As part of helping businesses to grow, the CEO of VM Wealth Management Ltd Rezworth Burchenson explained that throughout the journey, the VM Group will assist by being a full-service entity.

“There are stages in the life of a business, so they start out needing an operating account as they go on you need a pension plan, so they can be easily referred to the VM pension plan, as they go on they need a commercial loan for business, Latoya can help them, they want to list eventually, VM Wealth can provide assistance,” he said.

Something which, according to Burchenson, “other institutions do not offer their clients”. He further bragged about other offerings that cater to a growing business.

“Even VM Wealth if you are interested, we can sell your business for you, we can do valuation services, we can find you a buyer, we can provide equity capital for PE [private equity].”

Group chief investment officer & head of strategic investments Devon Barrett added to the discussion, stating that a part of business growth comes the desire to buy foreign exchange to get businesses stocks overseas, which he revealed is available every single day of the week at VM with no restrictions.

“We guarantee all these small businesses that any day that they want to buy money, we will sell them money,” he said, while boasting about the VM’s resilient foreign exchange business.

He also touted the efficiency of Internet banking for daily business activities including instant transfer of funds from business owners to an overseas supplier which shows the progress the group has made in business banking.

“I think we have surpassed many of the other bank institutions here in Jamaica,” he said.