Hong Leong Bank Eyes 10% Home Loans Growth

Source : The Business Times, Narch 4, 2008

It is confident of hitting target for cash-back product

Hong Leong Bank is aiming for 10 per cent growth this year in its housing loans segment, which currently has about 130,000 clients.

As part of its efforts, the bank yesterday introduced a cash-back home loan product which it said enables customers to save more on interest payment.

Chief operating officer for personal financial services, Moey Tan, said the bank was confident of achieving the target of RM1 billion (S$436 million) receivables for the new product by year-end as it was the only one in the local market to give cash rebates to home loan customers.

'The 10 per cent cash-back will automatically be credited into the customer's savings or current account annually from year six onwards,' she said. Ms Tan said for a RM200,000 loan, the first payment is RM1,000 and each year the customer will receive a percentage of the cash-back amount until the end of loan tenure.

The cash-back home loan features include a repayment option and up to 90 per cent margin of financing, applicable for completed properties with a minimum loan amount of RM200,000.

Hong Leong Bank's group managing director Yvonne Chia said housing loans today accounted for 58 per cent of total household debt and the commitment was long term, averaging from 20 to 30 years.

'The cash-back concept was tested and validated through independent research. . .' she said. -- Bernama