(9 September 2024 – Hong Kong) Fourteen commercial banks in Hong Kong, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, and the Bank of China (Hong Kong), have committed to maintaining their support for small businesses in the city and speeding up their loan approval processes.
As reported in the SCMP, this comes after local authorities intervened last month to address concerns about the difficulties small businesses were facing in securing financing.
The banks agreed to uphold their current risk appetite for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and not alter their credit approval standards, according to a statement from an industry task force.
They also pledged to respond to credit review requests within a month, ensure the effective implementation of SME support initiatives, treat customers fairly, and allocate sufficient resources and personnel to reassess cases facing difficulties. Additionally, the banks committed to approving qualified mortgage loans within two weeks.
These commitments were made following the first meeting of the Taskforce on SME Lending, which was established last month to address the financing challenges SMEs face in light of the economic slowdown. The task force is co-chaired by Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) deputy CEO Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang and Luanne Lim, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB), and includes senior executives from banks active in the SME sector.
Other lenders at the meeting included Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia, Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), China Citic International, China Construction Bank (Asia), Citibank, Dah Sing Bank, DBS Bank (Hong Kong), ICBC Asia, OCBC Bank (Hong Kong), and virtual lender PAO Bank.