In this exclusive interview, Credit Corporation’s CEO Danny Robinson updates Business Advantage PNG on its progress towards acquiring a full banking license and outlines what kind of bank it will be.

Credit Corporation (PNG) Ltd’s Danny Robinson

Business Advantage PNG: What stage has Credit Corporation reached in the process of becoming a fully-fledged bank?

Danny Robinson: We have already gained the support of the Bank of PNG regulator and have our new core banking system ‘live and in Production’. There are just a few more regulatory hurdles before we can begin to use the word ‘bank’.

Once this has been achieved, we can carry out our planned Phase One, which is offering deposit products to all of our employees. We will begin by opening transaction, savings and term deposits products for our PNG employees to test the systems and the functionality before expanding this to our existing customers.

‘PNG is currently seeing massive investment in infrastructure and new projects. As a consequence, there’s a need for capital and for finance.’

After that, the next step will be to launch the full suite of lending products that you would typically see from a bank.

BAPNG: How will operating as a bank broaden your brand’s appeal?

DR: Rather than continuing to limit our customer base to SMEs and commercial customers, we can now broaden our customer base to individuals in senior and middle management roles who are looking for a better banking experience.

We are also going to be able to appeal to those who are looking for a more digital banking option. Our system will allow customers to open an account with us online rather than needing to come into the office. We also hope to issue virtual cards to the customer.

BAPNG: How is Credit Corporation going to stand out against other banking institutions in PNG?

DR: One thing we plan to do is launch a Visa credit card product. We already have a large number of high-net-worth individuals who have taken out one of our executive car loans with us previously. They’re the sort of customers who should have access to a credit card similar to those provided by financial institutions overseas.

BAPNG: It looks like PNG is entering a period of strong economic growth. What are you doing to prepare for this?

DR: PNG is currently seeing massive investment in infrastructure and new projects. As a consequence, there’s a need for capital and for finance. While larger companies will often self-fund, the companies they subcontract too will be coming to the likes of us to assist them with their business growth.

So, 2024 is definitely looking like a strong year for us, which will coincide with the launch of the new bank and a broader suite of products and services. We will be putting more staff on. Our intention is to relationship manage every banking customer that comes on board. There will be relationship managers to service our SME and Commercial customers and customer service officers to relationship manage individuals. Basically, we want the customer to always have someone they can readily contact.