Digital Transformation for 16 Schools in Kota Kinabalu
Digital Transformation for 16 Schools in Kota Kinabalu
Hong Leong Bank’s ‘HLB@School’ program offers a cashless ecosystem for 16 schools, while nurturing financial and
environmental literacy among students
Group photo featuring the representatives from the 16 schools together with the special guests (front row, 7th seat from left) En. Jasani Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of HLISB; (front row, 8th seat from left) Mr Chee Chi Hiung, Assistant Director of the Education Department, Sabah and (front row, 9th seat from left) En. Azrul Fakzhan, Director of Card Services, PayNet.
Kota Kinabalu, 7 December 2022 – A significant milestone was achieved today as we celebrate the most cashless schools enabled by Hong Leong Bank and Hong Leong Islamic Bank (“HLB”, “HLISB” or the “Bank”) ‘HLB@School’ program here in Kota Kinabalu. This milestone was celebrated at SJKC Chung Hwa, Kota Kinabalu, where 16 schools were recognised as “Cashless Schools” by Payment Networks Malaysia Sdn Bhd (“PayNet”).
Representatives from SJKC Chung Hwa Likas, SJKC St James Kota Kinabalu, SM Lok Yuk Likas, SJKC Lok Yuk Menggatal, SK Api-Api, SM Tinggi Kota Kinabalu, SMK Likas, SM Shan Tao, SM All Saints, SK Lok Yuk Likas, SJKC Che Hwa Kolombong, SJKC Yue Min Penampang, SK St Francis Convent KK, SK Pangkalan TLDM KK, and SK Malawa were in attendance.
Also present were Mr Chee Chi Hiung, Assistant Director of the Education Department, Sabah.
Rolled out in October 2020, the ‘HLB@School’ program supports the digital transformation of schools in Malaysia by providing cashless payments, digital banking tools and financial infrastructure to schools and students. To facilitate this digital transformation, students of these schools are equipped with the HLB 3-in-1 Junior Account, which comes with a savings account with fixed deposit, and a reloadable debit card that will allow them to make cashless payments in their schools. With the HLB/HLISB Debit Card, buying meals at the canteen, paying school fees or buying books is much easier for students just by tapping their cards at the POS terminals.
In addition, it comes with access to the HLB Pocket Connect app, a first-in-market interactive digital banking platform for students and their parents. The app is a simple mobile banking platform with Earn, Save and Spend features, where students can track their pocket money, expenditure and savings with their guidance of their parents. This gives the students a deeper appreciation of the value of money and empowers them to take charge of their finances. Similarly, parents are able to manage and monitor their children’s bank accounts anytime, anywhere through the HLB Connect online and digital banking platforms.
According to Jasani Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of HLISB, “Our ‘HLB@School’ program extends beyond just enabling the digital transformation of the schools. The more important objective is to drive financial literacy, encourage financial inclusion and inculcate environmental stewardship at a young age. Guided by our ethos of providing products and services around the needs of our customers, we want to leverage these digital tools to nurture a generation who has grown up in a world of the internet and technology with these essential life skills. Furthermore, we are also very proud that this program has been adopted by so many schools in Kota Kinabalu and is recognised by PayNet, which is the enabler of the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for Malaysia’s financial markets.”
Azrul Fakzhan, Director of Card Services at PayNet said, “We applaud HLB’s effort in educating and encouraging financial and digital literacy among young Malaysians, which is in line with PayNet’s aspiration for inclusive and accessible cashless payments to all Malaysians.”
160 trees will be planted on behalf of the schools at Lower Kinabatangan area as part of HLB Earth Hero forest conservation initiative.
In line with its core value of sustainability, HLB is also building a community of eco-warriors through HLB Earth Hero, a forest conservation initiative that is embedded within the ‘Task’ section of the HLB Pocket Connect app. Each completed task results in a virtual tree being planted. HLB will then plant one real tree for every 20 virtual trees planted at the Lower Kinabatangan area in the name of the young saver.
This initiative is done in partnership with Animal Projects and Environmental Education Sdn Bhd (“APE Malaysia”), with a goal of planting 2,500 trees this year. HLB will also be planting 10 trees for each of the 16 schools involved in the ‘HLB@School’ program in the Lower Kinabatangan area, adding 160 trees to the overall tally.
To further emphasise the importance of environmental literacy, HLB organised an Earth Hero Education Talk session at SJKC Chung Hwa today, which will be recorded and shared to the other 15 schools. Through this Earth Hero initiative, students can also learn more about the biodiversity and the positive impact seen at the Lower Kinabatangan area.
HLB has a strong commitment to championing digital and financial literacy to Malaysians, especially to students as it believes that students should be taught these essential life skills as early as possible so as to enable them to build a positive relationship with money and develop sound money management skills in the future. Through its HLB DuitSmart Financial Literacy Program which was launched in 2019, students are taught to make financial decisions in simulated situations in small group workshops, covering primary, secondary and tertiary students. Interested schools can find out more about this free financial literacy program by emailing capr@hlbb.hongleong.com.my
With all the community sustainability initiatives HLB is spearheading, the Bank was recently awarded Gold in the Financial Services sector at The Edge ESG Awards 2022.