Hong Leong Bank Steps Up Its Investment In E-Banking Service

Be connected anywhere and anytime, safely

Hong Leong Bank is stepping up its investments in alternate channels of E-Banking to complement its services offered throughits 186 branches throughout Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Bank is committed to serve its customers anywhere, anytime by stepping up to be morerelevant to changing customer lifestyles and needs.

Today, Hong Leong Bank launches its new Hong Leong Online, the new Integrated Financial Portal of the Bank. The new Hong Leong Online has been refreshedwith more sophisticated services and added functionalities. It delivers higher performance and is reliable and more secure for customers.

The new Hong Leong Online forms part of E-Banking Services that also include Phone Banking, Mobile Banking, E-payment services such as Inter-Bank GIRO,E-Debit, Bulk payments, FPX (an online debiting service) and cross-border ATMs in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.

The E-Banking Services are designed to integrate with the brick-and-mortar infrastructure of Hong Leong Bank’s over 186 Branches and 17 Business Centersthroughout Malaysia, 1 Branch each in Singapore and Hong Kong, Priority Banking and Private Banking Centers, Bureaus de Change, 580 Self-Service Terminals(spanning AutoTeller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines, and Cheque Deposit Machines), and a state-of-the-art full service Call Centre for servicing andtelemarketing.

“We have a long and solid history of pushing the boundaries of alternate and electronic channels to better serve our customers, and in the process, we havesignificantly broadened our franchise while embedding ourselves well within the community,” said Ms Yvonne Chia, Group Managing Director of Hong LeongBank.

Hong Leong Bank has always been at the forefront of finding new ways of banking. Hong Leong Bank was the first bank to launch Bulk Cash Deposit Machines in1999. In 2000, it launched Retail Internet Banking with Corporate Internet Banking quickly following suit. In 2005, Hong Leong Bank launched Mobile Money –a world’s first in mobile credit card which won the Asian Banker’s Award for Best Credit Card Product in Asia Pacific. Hong Leong Bank also pioneered theintegrated tele-sales and tele-service call center model in the industry.

“Today, we are actively investing in enabling technologies and the right infrastructure, data integrity, security, architecture and analytics, bandwidthexpansion and new IT applications capabilities, and re-invention of our end-to-end service and fulfillment processes. These technologies at Hong Leong Bankwould allow us to follow the customers – anywhere, anytime, today and tomorrow.”

The new Hong Leong Online introduced today marks yet another key milestone to the wholesome IT investment roadmap of Hong Leong Bank to “e-enable”alternate channels and processes and deliver to customers relevant, impactful, convenient and secure E-Products and Services. Hong Leong Online is a highperformance, reliable, secure and scalable shared web services delivery platform that provide customers with an easy, fast and convenient banking channel.Hong Leong Online provides for convenient account and check management, online payments for loans and credit cards, payment of bills to over 60 top billersand fund transfers including Inter-Bank GIRO. Customers also can access online the full array of products and services of the Hong Leong Financial Group.

“We are very excited with our E-Banking strategy. With our integrated E-Channels coming together as a serious alternate to our brick-and-mortar customertouch-points, we are poised to meet the rising and changing demands of our customers and compete effectively with both traditional competitors as well asnew non-bank financial intermediaries,” concluded Ms Chia.

Hong Leong Bank’s strategy for investments in technology and its integration with brick-and-mortar customer touch points have also enabled the bank to havea wider reach, a lower cost-to-serve and a significant change in sales and servicing productivity results.

Soon, Hong Leong Online customers will get chances to win prizes like Apple iPods and LCD/plasma TVs. In this soon to be launched promotion, the moretransactions a customer conducts online each month the more chances he has of winning additional prizes.

Hong Leong Bank offers this service to all its customers. Customers can login to Hong Leong Bank website www.hlb.com.my or Hong Leong Islamic Bankingwebsite www.hlib.com.my to enroll for Hong Leong Online service. Alternatively, customers can also visit any of HLB’s 186 branches nationwide or call HongLeong Call Centre at 03-76268808 for more information.

Press Release - 12/06/2007