Hong Kong's DBS Kwong On Bank To Move Into Online Banking

Mary Swire, Tax-news.com, Hong Kong

21 February 2001

Hong Kong's DBS Kwong On Bank, which is owned by Singapore-based DBS Bank, has announced that it will launch online banking services in Hong Kong in the autumn. The bank is also currently revamping its Internet site.
William Hon, DBS Kwong's Hong Kong chief, said: 'We have a website now but no online banking. After we bought Kwong On, we had to change the old system. It should be ready around the third quarter of the year.'

Online banking is growing apace in Hong Kong, so DBS Kwong faces a raft of competition, which is expected to intensify once interest rates are deregulated in July 2001. DBS is making adjustments to its fee structure in order to compete, although the bank is playing its cards close to its chest and not revealing exactly how its fees will change.

Mr Hon does not see rising bank charges pushing consumers into Internet banking, as it is only a value-added service. He said: 'It is difficult for banks to push the consumers from one channel to another. Online banking is about giving them choices.'

Greg Seow, chairman of DBS Securities, said that Hong Kong residents would be best suited to using a mix of traditional and online banking methods. He commented: 'In Hong Kong, the population size is larger (than in Singapore) and it is hard to generalise about the sophistication of the consumers. Hence we are looking at the market segment which wants to go to the branch as well as the Internet for banking and trading.'

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