HLB Partners Qtronex To Help SMEs

Left to Right: Daniel Mun, Head of Business Transformation – Group SME Banking, Hong Leong Bank; Terrence Teoh, Head of Group SME Banking,
Hong Leong Bank; Lee Sieng Keong, Director of Qtronex Sdn Bhd and Cheng Jih Min, Co-Founder of Qtronex Sdn Bhd.

As part of Hong Leong Bank Berhad’s (‘HLB’ or ‘the Bank’) aim to support the growth of small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the Bank has recently inked a partnership agreement with Qtronex Sdn Bhd (Qtronex) to help SMEs in amplifying their business presence via WeChat platform.

This partnership allows HLB’s existing and new SMEs customers to sign up with WeChat Official Accounts (OA), which will further enable the businesses direct access to the growing number of users engaged on WeChat platform in Malaysia. Over 90% of Malaysia’s mobile phones are registered with the WeChat social communication platform, while there are 3.5 million monthly active WeChat OAs worldwide.

“As the online social and mobile retail platform takes off, HLB is at the forefront of this evolution to equip our SME customers with the right solutions so that they can grow their business further. HLB is the sole banking partner for WeChat in Malaysia offering tie-up with HLB merchant services together with HLB ConnectFirst internet banking services. This would allow SMEs to enjoy greater presence and exposure to a wider target market at minimal cost and allow them to engage with their customers to create strong loyalty via the fast-growing WeChat ecosystem,” said Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB.

Terrence Teoh, Head of Group SME Banking further added on that the partnership with Qtronex allows the Bank in helping its existing and new SME customers the right platform to start with in the ecosystem of WeChat. With a simplified registration process and nominal fee, HLB SME customers are now able to fast track their business footprint presence in the ecosystem of one of the fasting growing messaging platform.

“WeChat is China’s top messaging app with 1.08 billion monthly active users worldwide in the past year. In Malaysia, there are more than 20 million active WeChat users, accounting for almost 65 percent of our entire country’s population. HLB wishes to help Malaysian SMEs to expand their business not just locally but regionally via both online and offline channels,” said Teoh.

Starting from now to 15 January 2020, Malaysian merchants, retailers and business owners can apply for a WeChat OA online https://www.hlb.com.my/en/business-banking/group-sme-banking.html?icp=hlb-en-home-footer-sme#section-wechat-oa-1 or email us (ask@hlbb.hongleong.com.my with the subject WechatOA) or at any of the 270 HLB branches throughout Malaysia.

Last year, HLB became one of the first Malaysian bank to be approved as Tencent’s local WeChat Pay Master Merchant Acquirer, enabling merchants and individuals to be the first users outside of China and Hong Kong able to link their debit cards to the e-wallet for local currency transactions.