Hong Leong Bank Story
Our Background
Hong Leong Bank Berhad is a regional financial services company based in Malaysia, with presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. The Bank is technology-focused and emphasises the development of financial capabilities to serve its clients across the five geographies. Hong Leong Bank Berhad (“HLB” or “the Bank”) is listed on Bursa Malaysia and forms part of the Hong Leong Group. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the Bank has a strong Malaysian entrepreneurship heritage.
Our Humble Beginnings
HLB was originally incorporated as Kwong Lee Mortgage and Remittance Company in 1905 in Kuching, Sarawak and later as Kwong Lee Bank Limited in 1934, bearing heritage of the oldest local financial institution in Malaysia. Kwong Lee Bank Berhad was acquired by the MUI Group in May 1982 and renamed Malayan United Bank Berhad on 2 February 1983. In 1989, it was renamed as MUI Bank. Under the MUI Bank banner, it grew from 11 to 35 branches nationwide.
Our Milestone
On 3 January 1994, Hong Leong Group acquired MUI Bank Berhad through Hong Leong Credit Berhad (now known as Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad) and renamed it Hong Leong Bank Berhad. The Bank was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now under Main Market of Bursa Malaysia) on 17 October 1994 and since then has grown by leaps and bounds, organically as well as through mergers and acquisitions. Today the Bank is Malaysia’s fifth largest banking group by assets with over RM254.3 billion in assets as at 30 June 2022, and fourth largest by market capitalisation as at the same date.
Our Achievement on Regional Front
On the regional front, HLB was the first Malaysian bank to enter the Chinese banking sector in 2008 with a strategic investment in Bank of Chengdu Co., Ltd (“Bank of Chengdu”) with an 18% stake in the company. HLB became the first Malaysian and South East Asian bank to be granted a license to incorporate and operate a 100% wholly-owned commercial bank in Vietnam which commenced operations in October 2009 with a branch located in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Since 2010, HLB has investments in the Sichuan JinCheng Consumer Finance Company, a licensed consumer finance firm established in Chengdu while our 100% wholly-owned commercial bank in Cambodia was launched in 2013
Our Innovation
HLB launched a comprehensive suite of online banking platforms for corporate, commercial and SME banking to ensure efficiency and convenience, with comprehensive solutions designed to help clients run their business smoothly. In the same year, the Bank moved its headquarters to Menara Hong Leong in Damansara City and established the first Hong Leong Bank Digital Concept flagship branch, as part of its efforts in digitisation and through continuous optimisation and integration of electronic and digital facilities and processes, to enhance the overall customer banking journey.
Our Innovation
We place customers at the core and leverage the latest digital technology to offer meaningful financial products and services that fulfil customers’ needs. We look for opportunities in the challenges faced by individuals and businesses in their banking needs today to innovate customer experiences tomorrow while embracing opportunities new technologies bring to deliver the best digital and human experiences available in the market. We do this through an extensive network of branches in Asia with one branch each in Labuan Offshore, Singapore and Hong Kong, two branches in Vietnam, and seven branches in Cambodia, as well as a full-service call centre and 1,044 self-service terminals.
Digital at the Core
With the rapidly changing financial landscape, coupled with fast-paced technological changes, staying attuned to our customers’ expectations and aspirations are critical to our ongoing efforts to develop capabilities, banking products and services that are centred on clients’ needs. HLB’s ethos of being Digital at the Core will continue propelling us to innovate and leverage on technology to increase efficiency and productivity, to improve the overall customer experience, and, future proof our workforce by upskilling employees’ competencies and skill sets. Our digital ambition is to continuously provide our customers with a personalised approach and simpler, more efficient and seamless banking experience for them to live life “uninterrupted”.
