Hong Leong Bank Inspires Malaysians to Embrace Good Habits in Raya Campaign

Kuala Lumpur, 18 April 2024 – When it comes to celebrating Hari Raya, the festive season usually brings to mind scenes of family and friends reuniting for a meal, or people who take time out of their celebrations to give back to society. This collective practice often stems from a desire to inculcate good habits and practices (amalan baik) in our lives, whereby the festive season is a reminder for us to keep the family unit strong while remembering to support the people and community around us as much as we can. With that, Hong Leong Bank ("HLB" or the "Bank") believes that amalan baik can also be used to ensure our financial security as well, where consistent, prudent financial habits are essential to building a brighter financial future for ourselves and our loved ones.

This central ethos is encapsulated in the Bank's Hari Raya short film entitled "Amal", which emphasizes the benefits of starting and sustaining good habits, especially highlighting good financial habits, which will ultimately result in increased rewards and benefits in the future. The short film, which stars HLB brand ambassador Alif Satar, tells the story of a late grandfather assigning tasks to his grandchildren to complete ahead of the Raya celebrations. Despite initial confusion, the grandchildren went ahead with executing the tasks, and eventually they find out that the people they met while completing the tasks were once recipients of their help and support, alongside their late grandfather.

To watch HLB's Raya campaign video Amal, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXrhYyZQCBs

In line with this, HLB is committed to encourage customers to adopt good financial habits, whether that is through providing access to digital banking solutions, financial literacy initiatives, or equipping customers with a comprehensive suite of banking and wealth management services that are designed around the needs of their customers and target audiences. HLB's "Amal" video is part of a bigger "end-to-end" picture that the Bank is painting this Raya season, ultimately guiding everyone towards building good financial habits.

To instill good financial habits, especially among the young generation, the Bank realizes that its customers and the community must first be equipped with digital banking tools and services which allow them to practice good money management habits. HLB has taken big strides in this area, deploying its HLB @ Kampung financial inclusion initiatives in small towns across the country, transforming rural towns into a "Cashless Kampung" with cashless payment and digital banking services. This wave of transformation is also integrated in schools through HLB @ School, which sees schools and students being equipped with cashless payment tools, preparing them to adapt to the wider digital payments ecosystem.

Besides that, good financial habits come hand-in-hand with financial literacy and access to information regarding available financial tools and services. With HLB DuitSmart, the Bank is making financial information and scam awareness accessible to students and members of the community through conducting financial literacy workshops all across the country. HLB deploys volunteers from its own workforce to facilitate these sessions, ensuring that participants get first-hand access to updated information about money management, digital banking, and financial fraud.

To increase the public's access to financial information, thus helping them to instill and sustain amalan baik in managing their finances, the Bank will have Raya Open Houses at selected branches across the country up to 27 April 2024. Members of the public are invited to come have a meal and engage in exciting activities while inquiring about the services and solutions that Hong Leong Bank provides. In the spirit of empowering the amalan baik of not just saving and budgeting, but also investing and managing wealth, HLB has also launched its first podcast series called "Market Matters with HLB", allowing the public to gather insights and knowledge on the investment landscape and global markets.

The first two episodes of Market Matters with HLB have been launched. You may watch them here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBEP-o-W5SRYfIU0VClXRtM9G2_cjPbUb

Zalman Zainal, HLB's Chief Marketing and Communication Officer commented on the inspiration behind the Bank's Hari Raya campaign, and how it integrates into the Bank's wider mission of instilling amalan kewangan baik in its customers and the public.

"This Raya, we wanted to highlight the power of cultivating good habits that can lead to a brighter future for ourselves and our loved ones. From performing a simple act of kindness and supporting a loved one, to prudent management of personal finances, instilling good habits and behaviors in our lives can generate a positive outcome in the future for yourself and the people around you. We want to inspire all Malaysians to experience the power of good habits and the multiplied rewards it can bring, as we as a Bank commit ourselves to being a valued partner in your financial journey. As a Bank, we not only want to encourage everyone to adopt good financial habits, but we also provide the tools and knowledge necessary for them to build a good financial future for themselves. This can be proven through our various community engagement and financial inclusion initiatives, where we commit to helping our customers to adopt these amalan baik for themselves. We believe that by planting the first seed into the next generation, we can expect to see even more success stories to come, many years down the line."