United Overseas Bank (UOB) is launching soon a virtual marketplace for its small and medium enterprise (SME) clients – a first in Singapore by a commercial bank.

The bank signed an agreement with cloudBuy, a global provider of cloud-based e-commerce and business-to-business (B2B) solutions, to build the marketplace.

UOB’s B2B marketplace will be launched in the first quarter of 2017. It will provide the bank’s SME customers with a one-stop shop to view and to purchase online a wide range of business essentials, such as travel, stationery, general insurance as well as courier and logistics services. A key benefit of this marketplace is the cost savings which SMEs will be able to enjoy from bulk-purchase deals negotiated by the bank with suppliers.

UOB data shows that the number of the Bank’s SME customers buying goods and services online has grown by more than 30% over the past three years. Two in five UOB business credit card customers are now making their business purchases online.

Mervyn Koh, managing director and head of business banking Singapore, UOB, says that SMEs’ growing digital-savviness and their desire for convenience have contributed to the increasing popularity of B2B e-commerce.

“Through this new virtual marketplace, our customers will be able to enjoy good bargains with collective bulk purchases. This will help them to address the challenge of rising business costs. As the B2B marketplace will showcase products and services from different suppliers, SMEs will also be able to make purchases online conveniently without having to request for numerous and separate price quotations,” says Koh.

Lyn Duncan, cloudBuy CEO, adds that cloudBuy solutions have PCI DSS (Level 1) payment security accreditation, the highest used in the payments industry, provides a trustworthy environment for buyers and sellers to come together.