DBS Bank Sets up First Enterprise Banking Business Centre
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Part of DBS Enterprise Banking's new business model to enhance focus on its SME customers
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NEW SERVICES INTRODUCED TO GEAR SMES FOR THE NEW ECONOMY
SINGAPORE, [25 July 2000] - - DBS Bank today said it has opened the first-ever business centre in Singapore dedicated solely to helping small and medium enterprises in their banking and financial needs as they gear up for the new economy.
Called DBS Business Centre (City), the centre, in Hong Lim Complex at Upper Cross Street, is the first in a network to be set up at key major commercial and industrial hubs round the island.
With the new DBS Business Centre, teams of professional Business Relationship Managers will be created, to be stationed at each centre. These experienced managers will nurture relationships with medium enterprises by developing an in-depth understanding of their business and initiating appropriate banking solutions that best meet their needs.
Client Service Officers at the centre will help customers see through their day-to-day banking transactions. And, around the island, at key branches of the bank, another group of professionals - the Business Banking Managers -- will be on-site to service the needs of small enterprises.
In this way, the Bank will forge strong and closer relationships with its growing number of SME customers which will translate to improved customer satisfaction, says DBS Bank's President, Ng Kee Choe.
The new servicing mode is part of a number of new initiatives DBS Bank started in February last year to better serve SMEs, he said at the official opening of the Business Centre today. All business units of the Bank which serve SMEs, along with its two subsidiaries, DBS Finance and DBS Factors, have been grouped under one Enterprise Banking Group. This group focuses its efforts on meeting SME business needs.
"In setting up a single DBS Enterprise Banking Group, we recognise that SMEs represent a key engine of growth for the economy. They are an important client segment to DBS. We want to be their bank of choice and their partner in business, proactive in meeting their needs and helping them gear up to compete in the e-world." Ng said.
DBS Bank had also decided to invest in plans for its new business centres as it recognises that SMEs these days face new and unprecedented challenges brought on mainly by the new global and virtual economy, said the Bank's Managing Director and Head of the DBS Enterprise Banking Group, Hong Tuck Kun.
"In the new Internet world, SMEs need not be limited by size to achieve their highest potential. Many of Singapore's SMEs possess the potential to globalise their markets and even become 'homegrown' MNCs. As they venture out, many of them are looking for help in harnessing technology or embracing e-commerce.
"With the various Internet and e-commerce services provided by DBS Enterprise Banking, we are in the position to help SMEs achieve their new business goals," Hong Tuck Kun said.
These services include DBS Internet Banking, which lets customers access their bank accounts and handle basic banking transactions online; DBS IDEAL Enterprise, an integrated cash management tool for better cash management; c2Pay, an e-commerce payment solution for SMEs in B2B e-commerce or e-tailing; and Factornet, another e-enabling initiative to facilitate customers in submitting invoices electronically using EDI.
BS' team of Business Relationship and Business Banking Managers are trained to tailor these value-added products and services, competitively, for SMEs' business needs.
They will also be able to tap on DBS Bank's 30 years of banking experience, wide industry knowledge and expertise and draw on the resources of its network of regional and local branches, to serve SMEs better, Hong Tuck Kun said.
DBS Business Centre (City) is headed by Vice-Presidents Hong Keah Huat and Tan Chiew Song.
The centre is located at Block 531, Upper Cross Street, #01-51 (Storey 2), Hong Lim Complex (Tel: 436-4933).
For more information, please contact:
Ms Julie Yeo
Vice President, Corporate Relations
Tel: (65) 321-5447
Fax: (65) 222-4478
Mr Eunice Woo
Deputy Manager, Corporate
Relations
Tel: (65) 321-6091
Fax: (65) 222-4478
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