Bank to boost online customer base

Hong Leong Bank (HLB) expects its new banking service, Hong Leong Connect, to boost its online banking customer base by another 130 000 to 480 000 by financial year ending June 2012, states Borneo Post.

Its head of digital banking, Ken Yong, said the bank currently has 350 000 online customers, of which 40% log in monthly to Hong Leong Online Personal while 20% did it occasionally.

“Digital banking is the trend moving forward as smartphone users are expected to reach nine million by year-end,” he told a media briefing after the launch of the service.

HLB's group MD, Yvonne Chia says, HLB was committed to invest further to enhance the bank's IT platform to support all banking services, adding that remittances could be one of them, reports Bernama.com.

She says the Hong Leong Connect was a platform convergence of digital banking services, integrating HLB's existing online banking with the new mobile banking application.

Chia adds that HLB is the first bank to unveil a transactional mobile banking applications on the top three most popular smartphone operating systems - Apple's iOS, Google's Android OS and the BlackBerry OS.

The new mobile banking applications will also offer a new payment concept called Payment Express, or PEx, where customers can instantly pay anyone via their smart phones to any mobile number.

During the introductory period, HLB customers can enjoy zero service fees when performing PEx transactions until 30 November.