Maybank Singapore wants to capture a bigger share of young and wealthy clients in the region. It will soon launch its first branch that combines the concept of a café and banking services.
Maybank Singapore is launching a new branch on Orchard road that combines a café with banking services. While it is not the first bank to do so, it is the first for the Malaysian bank across its banking network.
«There are a lot of people on that street, particularly those from the Asean region, who many not know Maybank,» said John Lee, chief executive of Maybank Singapore in a report by «Business Times» (behind paywall).
Targeting Millennials And The Wealthy
Having a presence on Orchard Road not only raises the profile of Malaysia's largest bank, but also helps it serve private banking individuals and millennials who frequent the downtown area, said Lee.
Being on one of Singapore's prime shopping belt could help it capture more business for its private wealth segment, which started in Singapore five years ago. Today, its private banking assets under management is US$10 billion, with presence in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Stepping Up Customer Engagement
Lee felt that increasing digitalisation efforts by banks could increase the risks of them losing engagement with end clients. «Digitalisation cannot be used for engagement,» Lee was quoted saying in the Business Times article.
When the Maybank Orchard branch is opened, there will be talks on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings for clients and members of the public. Clients can choose to attend a variety of engagement sessions, such as a workshop on coffee art, an estate-planning session by a lawyer, an investment talk on dividend stocks, or LinkedIn Marketing.
Café Concept Becoming Trendy?
Maybank Singapore said that the café at the Orchard branch will be opened daily while banking services will be available daily except on public holidays.
Not too far down the street, DBS Bank has a branch with a similar concept, as reported by finews.asia. Its Plaza Singapura branch features an open space filled with the aroma of coffee due to the location of a coffee vendor supported by the bank's charitable foundation. There, bank customers can use its video teller machines (VTMs) or do retirement planning at its virtual reality corner.
«Ideally, branch spaces should reflect the environment in which the branches operate, and cater to its needs even outside of banking,» DBS' and POSB's head of branch banking Susan Cheong had said.
Anti-Chatbot
While banks such as DBS and Citi have launched chatbots to engage with their customers, Maybank has decided against having one, as it found that its customers dislike talking to it.
«We experimented with it in Malaysia and decided not to offer it,» said Lee. Although he is unsure if the customer engagement at its Orchard Road branch will work, the bank will extend the concept to other branches if it was successful. Maybank currently has 20 full service branches in Singapore.
