KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Leong Islamic Bank (HLISB) has launched a comprehensive Islamic banking solution to help businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, operate within the halal industry.
BizHalal facilitates Shariah-compliant financing to help fund halal operations, complemented by halal advisory support from in-house halal industry experts, the bank said in a statement.
HLISB said BizHalal is open to existing and new bank customers who have obtained halal certification, as well as customers who have not yet obtained halal certification and are deemed to have “halal potential”.
In addition, customers who receive any of the bank’s commercial financing facilities will automatically be eligible for the BizHalal program.
BizHalal was launched at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HLISB and Halal Development Corporation (HDC), officially becoming HDC’s partner in promoting and developing the halal industry.
HLISB chief executive Dafinah Ahmed Hilmi said the halal industry has been identified as a growth area for the bank since 2018.
She added that the bank is committed to revitalizing the halal industry by supporting local halal SMEs and is committed to providing halal financing through HDC.
“We see huge growth potential in the halal industry and we have taken steps to enhance our expertise by adding halal experts to our team in 2023.
“We have also noticed increasing demand for financing from halal industry customers,” she said.
HDC chairman Khairul Azwan Harun said that of the 10,000 halal-certified companies, only about 2,000 are exporters, among which small and medium-sized enterprises contribute about 10% of the total halal exports.
“The huge 80% gap between demand and supply in the halal market highlights the country’s need to forge new collaborations with key industry players such as HLISB and create local halal champions who will inject new ideas and open up new investments The field is in the halal field,” he added.
