Banks Promote Intellectual Capital Management
01 November 2012
Five Hong Kong banks have joined Hong Kong’s Intellectual Property Department in promoting intellectual capital management (ICM) under the second phase of the Intellectual Capital Management Consultancy Programme, the department announced on March 2. The five partnering lending institutions include the Bank of China (Hong Kong), Chong Hing Bank, Citi Commercial Bank, Hang Seng Bank and the Bank of East Asia.
The banks will offer more favourable financial and/or service privileges to successful business loan applicants who have prepared their own intellectual capital reports. In a statement, the Intellectual Property Department called it “a win-win arrangement as companies preparing intellectual capital reports provide important non-financial data that can help financial institutions identify good customers. This in turn helps small businesses become more competitive when seeking finance.”
“In recent years, the government has been promoting the importance of intellectual capital among small and medium enterprises and how they can make the best use of it,” said Gregory So, undersecretary for commerce and economic development. “Intellectual capital is a significant asset for an enterprise that can help maximise its business potential.”
Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Holdings, the first organization to join the second phase of the programme, told reporters at the launching ceremony that Lan Kwai Fong was a company with valuable human and relational capital. “I am happy to be taking part in the programme and keen to see how it will empower my business through uncovering and exploiting our hidden intangible assets,” he said.
Under the second phase of the programme, which lasts until the end of the year, free consultancy services will be offered to enterprises, especially SMEs, on cultivating and managing their intangible assets with a view to realising new business opportunities, reducing business risk and strengthening their protection of intellectual property. More than 320 organisations joined the first phase of the programme in 2009.
