Hong Leong Bank and Hong Leong Islamic Bank have become the first bank in Malaysia to offer a truly digital onboarding experience for Malaysians who are looking to open a bank account, eliminating the need for a physical branch visit or self-service terminal.
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. In the meantime, customers can perform cardless ATM withdrawals using the Connect ATM withdrawal feature while waiting for their debit card to arrive.
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 we are proud to be doing our part in pushing for greater digital innovation in the financial sector which 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
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 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, without requiring customers to meet face-to-face or visit our physical branches. 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,” said Sik.
HLB’s Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Shailesh Grover “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.
