The firm is looking to revamp itself and sees partnering with tech firms as a way to broaden its customer base to include millennials and newly established firms.
Hong Leong Finance is exploring tying up with a technology firm to jointly apply for one of five digital bank licenses set to be issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2020.
The 50-year-old lender said it sees this as an opportunity to reinvent itself and leverage technology to improve its application process and lending decisions, the firm's president Ang Tang Chor said in an interview with «Bloomberg» on Friday, without disclosing any potential partners.
More than two-thirds of the firm's loans issued to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in sectors like food and beverage, property development and logistics. However, the approval process is antiquated and not friendly to new companies that do not have a long credit history.
Adapt to Appeal
«The next generation of depositors and clients are going to be people who are tech-savvy so we will have to go in that direction,» Ang said. He also added that Hong Leong is exploring the introduction of payment cards for expatriate workers and instant credit risk assessments for car loans.
Founded in 1961, Hong Leong Finance operates a network of 28 branches and 12 SME centres in Singapore. As of mid-2019, it had a market capitalization of S$1.2 billion ($870 million) and total deposits of almost S$12 billion.
