Hong Leong Bank launches cashless payments campaign

It begins with traders from five markets in Penang adopting the solution.

Hong Leong Bank (HLB) has launched the Cashless Lagi Senang campaign to onboard more vendors and traders in cashless and contactless payments methods, as part of its cashless initiative, the bank announced in a press release.

To start, the lender plans to onboard traders in 20 public markets in Penang over the next three months. This is also in line with the Cashless Pasar Awam initiative launched by the Penang state government, which aims to implement cashless transaction systems at all public markets.

HLB will be adopting the Kampung Baru, Kepala Batas, Air Itam, Pulau Tikus and Bagan Ajam markets. The bank will provide traders with a lightweight and mobile point-of-sale (“POS”) terminal that will accept payments from debit and credit cards, as well as e-wallets including Boost, GrabPay, TNG e-wallet, Alipay, WeChat Pay and Samsung Pay.

To encourage more people to adopt the payments solution, HLB said that there will be zero cost of entry for traders. The bank will also be waiving the monthly POS terminal rental fee, setup fee, security deposit, and merchant discount rate until 31 December.

Traders using HLB’s digital payment solutions will also automatically become the bank’s customers and will be able to access financial products and services, digital solutions, mentorship beyond the topics of banking as well as loans and financing, according to HLB.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness on contactless payments as being a safer way to pay health-wise, noted HLB.

“[T]he recent COVID-19 crisis has greatly increased awareness that contactless payments are safer and cleaner, making them an effective measure to curb the spread of the pandemic, which makes it imperative to push for contactless payment methods to become a mainstay in all sectors of the economy,” the bank said in a news release.

“This was similarly advised by the World Health Organization who encouraged the use of contactless payments as physical cash can carry and spread viruses,” the lender added.