Affin Bank Bhd has won Outstanding Digital CX for Financial Inclusion for their SME Colony mobile app at the Digital CX Awards 2022. This win marks the third consecutive recognition from the Digital CX Awards for the bank’s capabilities in serving SMEs digitally.
Organised by The Digital Banker, the coveted Digital CX Awards recognises the world’s leading financial services organisations that blend the best technology and innovation with the power of their people to provide a superior customer experience and reinvent their industry.
The panel of judges includes industry veterans from PWC, Deloitte, Forrester and Capco, to ensure transparency and unbiased adjudication.
Rolled out in 2019, SME Colony is the first SME community-centric mobile app in Malaysia to help SMEs improve business knowledge, enhance financial well-being and expand commercial networking through a digital platform.
The SME Colony app, which is free and does not require membership, aims to foster the development of the SME community, aligning with the bank’s “Always About You” customer-centric values to support one of Malaysia’s key economic contributors.
President & Group CEO of Affin Bank Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah said, “This recognition represents the peak of best practices in terms of providing a top-tier financial inclusive digital tool that supports the long-term sustainable growth of SMEs. The SME Colony app has undergone continuous user interface upgrades and content enrichment as the flagship digital initiative in AFFIN BANK’s roadmap to reinvent the customer experience and SME journeys digitally.”
Other niche financial inclusion products and services offered exclusively via SME Colony include the award-winning AFFIN ASPIRA (previously known as AFFIN Start-Up Banking) and AFFINWRKFZ, targeted at the start-up segment and a comprehensive suite of long-term business and talent management solutions respectively; as well as AFFINGEM, a women’s entrepreneur-centric proposition.
SME Financing, a self-assessment questionnaire for SMEs interested in AFFIN BANK’s financing options, was also launched in February 2022, as a prelude to further digital financing offerings.
“With the increasing focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), the bank recognises SMEs’ potential to set best ESG practices across the board as future market leaders. We are keen to lead by example by positioning SME Colony as education and financial inclusion agent to raise awareness and encourage better appreciation as well as the adoption of ESG considerations.
“This is among the key initiatives driving AFFIN BANK’s evolvement of its journey to becoming the ‘Bank of Choice’ for SMEs and start-ups alike,” he added.
SME Colony is one of the bank’s ESG initiatives to uplift SMEs and increase financial inclusion to underserved segments, in addition to supporting Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Inclusion Agenda and Sustainability Initiatives.
This award represents the pinnacle of best practices for delivering a top-tier financial inclusive tool that helps SMEs grow and sustain themselves by improving financial literacy and increasing digital adoption.
