ZA, the Hong Kong virtual bank of Chinese insurtech ZhongAn Online, has obtained a virtual insurance license from local authorities.
On 4 May ZA announced that its joint venture with Fubon Life Insurance (Hong Kong), ZA Life Limited (众安人寿), had obtained a license to act as a fully digitised insurance company from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority through its Fast Track pilot scheme.
ZA holds a 65% equity stake in ZA Life Limited, with Fubon holding the remaining 35% stake.
According to Hong Kong authorities ZA Life Limited – whose business name will be ZA Insure, is the fourth digital insurer to obtain a license in the special territory.
“Technology plays an important role in ZA Insure’s endeavor to improve user experience,” said Paddy Choy, chief actuary of ZA Insure.
” ZA’s self-developed eKYC technology will be fully applied to our underwriting process, substantially reducing the time required for purchasing coverage.
“We will also employ multiple security, risk control and anti-fraud technologies to ensure the safety of user information.”
ZA is one of the eight successful applicants for virtual banking licenses issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in the first half of 2019.
The virtual bank established by ZhongAn Technologies International commenced trial operation in December, and currently provides three month deposits of up to HKD$200,000 with 6% returns.
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