RHB Bank aims for 10% share of mortgage market by year-end

PETALING JAYA: RHB Bank Bhd is optimistic of capturing a 10% share of the mortgage market by the end of 2018, from 9.1% in December 2017, and has planned three major mortgage-specific initiatives this year to continue differentiating itself from its peers.
RHB retail banking acting head Nazri Othman (pix) said the mortgage portfolio is expected to continue its strong double-digit growth, fuelled by new digital initiatives. RHB's mortgages grew 13.2% in 2017.
"RHB Bank is optimistic of the growth prospects of the mortgage industry on the back of the country's strong macroeconomic fundamentals and robust growth in our targeted areas," Nazri told SunBiz in an email interview recently.
He said mortgage receivables contribute significantly to RHB's retail banking asset portfolio and will continue to anchor the overall retail banking growth in the future. 
"In line with the RHB five-year strategy plan known as FIT22, we will see increased retail assets contribution to the group balance sheet; the mortgage portfolio is expected to grow at a double-digit CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the next five years."
Nazri said one of the key guiding principles of RHB's digital transformation plan is to continuously improve its customer's banking journeys.
"We have since sought further feedback from our customers and have incorporated advanced features that would set us further apart from our competitors. The enhancement is expected to further change the mortgage landscape in Malaysia and is expected to be rolled out in the third quarter this year."
In just five months since the launch of RHB MyHome in November, the increase in mortgage applications from MyHome has surpassed its initial target of 8%-10%.
RHB MyHome empowers consumers to self-direct their mortgage applications at any time, and anywhere at their convenience against the traditional face-to-face approach when applying for a mortgage.
In a bid to maintain its competitive edge, the bank has also lined up future releases this year to further differentiate itself from its peers.
"We rolled out a new Mortgage Referral App, RHB Partners in end-April 2018 to RHB staff and the app will soon be extended to our strategic business partners, namely developers, real estate agents and insurance agents."
The app will enable referral of mortgage applications digitally and provide end-to-end digital submission through RHB MyHome.
Nazri said the industry's mortgage interest rate is currently at an accommodative level and RHB will remain competitive in its offerings for as long as it is commercially viable to do so.
He added that the bank has plans to replicate MyHome's success to other products.
"In 2017, we scaled up our digital transformation involving staff from multiple different departments and disciplines within the banking group to work together in agile way to deliver a customer-centric, insight-driven servicing and collaborative culture," Nazri said.
The year-on-year adoption of RHB Bank's internet banking and mobile banking has grown by 30% and 36%, respectively.
"We launched three innovative digital solutions in Q4 2017. We have started leveraging on advanced analytics to gain deep insights on customers to increase cross-selling potential and enhance customer's experience," Nazri said.