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How Hang Seng Bank helps Hong Kong’s SMEs adapt to new challenges
How Hang Seng Bank helps Hong Kong’s crucial SMEs evolve post-Covid-19
- City’s 362,000 small and medium-sized enterprises form more than 98 per cent of all firms and employ over 44 per cent of private sector workers
- Bank’s support includes funding, and backing for innovation and business growth in Southern China’s GBA, says Regina Lee, head of commercial banking
Hong Kong is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit and the resilience of its many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are an important driving force in the city’s economic development.
For years, SMEs have helped Hong Kong weather devastating challenges, including financial crises and the Covid-19 coronavirus disease pandemic.
Government figures show Hong Kong is now home to about 362,000 SMEs, which comprise more than 98.5 per cent of its total number of business units and account for about 44.4 per cent of private sector employment.
“Although the Covid-19 pandemic is behind us, the business momentum has not been restored to the previous level,” Regina Lee, head of commercial banking at Hang Seng Bank, says.
“At the same time, operating expenses are getting higher and higher. It is also difficult to hire people. SMEs are also faced with the need to transition.”
She says that the bank is a staunch supporter of these businesses, which is evident in the HK$33 billion (US$4.2 billion) SME Power Up Fund that it unveiled last month. The initiative includes an array of diversified loan offerings tailored to address the diverse financial requirements of SMEs and complemented with a dedicated hotline.
Hang Seng Bank has also simplified the loan application process for SMEs. With a fully digitalised loan application process that features digital ID verification and electronic signature services, approval-in-principle is made possible for some loans in as little as 10 seconds.
A preapproved SME Business Loan is being offered to about 8,000 of its existing customers, with requirements of collateral or financial statements waived to shorten the disbursement period to as few as five days.
“Hang Seng supports nearly a quarter of Hong Kong’s SMEs, and more than half of them have been banking with us for more than 10 years,” Lee says. “Over 60 per cent of the new company accounts we have set up last year are with start-ups. We have been talking to them to understand the challenges they are facing.”
Hang Seng supports nearly a quarter of Hong Kong’s SMEs
The bank has also shown its support for innovation with a memorandum of understanding signed with the city’s tech hub, Cyberport, and is working to adopt some of the solutions developed by start-ups based there, and connecting them with its other clients.
While supporting some SMEs on the green transformation journey, it is also helping businesses to capture opportunities through an extensive network in Southern China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) development zone, which in 2022 was estimated to have a population of 86 million and a gross domestic product of more than 13 trillion yuan (US$1.8 trillion).
“We have a good branch presence in the GBA and we have tailor-made solutions to support SMEs to make GBA a borderless area for them to develop business,” Lee says.
Click on the video to find out more from Regina Lee about Hang Seng Bank’s commitment to helping SMEs grow.
