Annual Report Laporan Tahunan - Baiduri Bank

Business Highlights
Corporate Banking Division
In 2008, the Corporate Banking Division participated in pioneering and innovative corporate financing
schemes for a number of leading companies in the oil and gas, aviation and telecommunications industries.
This included a syndicated finance scheme with other leading international banks to finance a tanker and a
major national housing project.
For the fifth year in 2008, Baiduri Bank continued to work hand-in-hand with Brunei Shell Petroleum, Brunei
Economic Development Board and Asia Inc Forum on an SME partnership programme aimed to continuously
nurture and groom Brunei SME’s through business awards, networking gathering, business forums and
workshops.
Under the Enterprise Facilitation Scheme and the Micro-Credit Scheme, both in collaboration with the
Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Baiduri Bank has since 2001, been providing assistance to local
entrepreneurs to give them a head start in their business.
Retail Banking Division
The setting up of a new Loan Centre in Kiarong in February 2008 provided centralized processing of retail
loans, thus helping achieve a much improved turnaround time for loan applications. Through active marketing
and cross-selling, Mortgage Loans and SME financing also saw a major increase despite stiff competition
from other banks.
With a comprehensive range of investment products, Wealth Management sales increased across the product
range. The first series of Structured Deposits was launched in April 2008, and was fully subscribed before the
end of the offer period. This is a strong achievement despite a volatile global outlook for investors. Investor
education, customer risk profiling, ethical consultative selling, professional staff training and details to sales
process were key ingredients for success.
The second Baiduri Expo themed “Saving for a Brighter Future” held at the International Convention Centre
in June emphasized savings and investment and showcased products and services of the Baiduri Bank Group.
Free financial health checks and consultation were provided to customers.
Thanks to excellent credit and operation control combined with substantial increase in operating profits,
Baiduri Card Centre continued to deliver excellent financial performance in 2008. Leveraging on the latest
technology, Baiduri Bank’s card merchants were the first in Brunei to be provided with VeriFone wireless card
terminals. Using GPRS technology, and incorporating the latest protections against fraud and tampering with
in-built verification and authentication features, the VeriFone is battery-powered with a sleek compact design
which makes it extremely portable and safe, allowing transactions to be processed just about anywhere and
at any time of the day, providing extreme versatility to business operators such as car-hiring companies and
food delivery service.
Established in 2005, Baiduri Bank’s partnership with
Western Union Financial Services continued to be
the preferred remittance service in Brunei because
of its reputation for speed and security. Offering
worldwide person-to-person remittance service
through the bank’s branch network, it is especially
popular with immigrant workers from other Asian
countries. Baiduri Bank remains the first and only
bank in Brunei to launch a partnership agreement
with a global remittance company.
12 Baiduri Bank Annual Report 2008