Another virtual bank has officially kicked off operation in Hong Kong following the issuance of licenses by the local monetary authority in May 2019.
On 27 June Ping An OneConnect Bank (平安壹账通银行) officially opened for business in Hong Kong, after obtaining its digital banking license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in May 2019.
Ping An One Connect Bank will focus on retail banking operations and lending operations for small and medium-sized enterprises, with an especial focus on cooperation with Hong Kong’s Tradelink Electronic Commerce (贸易通) and the provision of “innovative” loan services via its “Yiyi Dai” (壹易贷) product.
Tradelink Electronic Commerce is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and is considered a leading provider of e-commerce services locally.
Ping An One Connect Bank said that cooperation with Tradelink Electronic Commerce helped to connect its risk assessment platform with the latter’s trade data, in order to better determine the risk conditions for SME clients.
The launch comes just after Xiaomi’s Hong Kong virtual lender Airstar Bank commenced official operation on 11 June.
On 24 March Zhong’an-backed ZA Bank (众安银行) became the first virtual bank in Hong Kong to commence trial operation, followed by Xiaomi and AMTD Group’s Airstar Bank (天星银行 ) on 31 March, and subsequently Standard Chartered’s Mox.
HKMA issued eight virtual banking licenses to candidates in the first half of 2019.
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