HONG LEONG BANK BECOMES THE FIRST BANK IN MALAYSIA TO OFFER A FULLY DIGITAL ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE FOR CUSTOMERS, NO VISIT TO BRANCHES REQUIRED

Following the publication of Bank Negara Malaysia’s (“BNM”) guideline on Electronic Know-Your-Customer (“eKYC”) on June 30th 2020, Hong Leong Bank and Hong Leong Islamic Bank (“HLB” or the “Bank”) today announced a historic milestone by becoming the first bank in Malaysia to offer a truly digital onboarding experience for Malaysians looking to open a bank account. The experience is fully digital, eliminating the need to visit a physical branch or Self-Service Terminal.

Effective immediately, customers only need to download the ‘Apply@HLB’ mobile app to open an account anytime, anywhere and their Debit Cards will be delivered to them wherever they are in Malaysia. This simple, hassle-free and convenient way of banking is timely given the ongoing COVID-19 health concerns and corresponding shift to digital ‘everything’.

According to Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB, “We are pleased to be able to help Malaysians bank safely amidst the on-going pandemic and are proud to be doing our part in pushing for greater digital innovation in the financial sector. This would further stimulate the growth of the country’s Digital Economy while meeting the needs and expectations of an increasingly digital and mobile-first generation of consumers. Based on our data, we have seen a significant shift to digital banking over the past 7 months. Expanding our digital offerings to the first of its kind digital account opening through eKYC will further propel the move to digital banking”.

“With COVID-19 still being a concern for all, digital platforms, including digital banking and payments, will play an even greater role in helping customers continue to live life and run their business uninterrupted. Not only are we excited to be the first Bank in Malaysia to deliver a truly digital onboarding journey with zero physical branch visit required, we also hope that this will deliver a significantly higher value-added customer experience which will set a new benchmark for the industry,” said Fuda.  

With the ‘Apply@HLB’ app, opening a bank account can be done in three simple steps anytime, anywhere. Customers only need to have their MyKad in hand.

1.    Verify your identity with your IC and a selfie

2.    Fill in your personal details

3.    Create a username and password for HLB Connect to access online and mobile banking services once your account is opened

Once the account is opened, customers can immediately transfer funds online from another account and start transacting via the banking App such as making online payments and transfers. While waiting for the debit card to arrive, customers can perform cardless ATM withdrawals using the Connect ATM withdrawal feature.

Charles Sik, Managing Director of Personal Financial Services of HLB said, “Banking should never be at the expense of our customer’s convenience. We have all adapted to a new normal way of life and customers’ access to our banking services also have to evolve accordingly. The safety of our customers and staff remains a high priority as we continue to battle the pandemic. ‘Apply@HLB’ will remove the need of visiting a bank branch or meeting face-to-face by delivering a fully digital end-to-end onboarding process from applying for a bank account, identity verification to receiving a debit/ATM card. In addition to account opening, we will soon activate a fully digital credit card and personal loan application. This allows us to continue safeguarding the health and well-being of our customers, and staff at our Bank branches, while still providing customers with the ability to access our financial products and services anytime, anywhere.”

HLB’s Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Shailesh Grover also added that ever since the COVID-19 outbreak started, the Bank has accelerated the delivery of its digital roadmap to ensure customers are able to access the products and services on the channel of their choice, which happens to be mobile.

“Our digital and innovation team has been eager and passionate to reimagine how our customers can continue to do banking in this new normal. Being able to expedite the roll out of a fully digital account onboarding process is a very timely and fulfilling task for us, as we continue to enable all banking products and services on our digital platforms. Whilst we had enabled online application for a bank account for some time now, customers still had to complete the process by visiting a branch in-person for identity verification. ‘Apply@HLB’ closes the loop on our previous account opening process and delivers an end-to-end digital account onboarding process, which is also aligned with our digital at the core strategy,” said Grover.

Any Malaysians, aged 18 and above can apply for an HLB account via the ‘Apply@HLB’ app, which is available for download on Google Play, App Store and Huawei AppGallery. For more information about ‘Apply@HLB’, please visit www.hlb.com.my/apply.