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7 = 3+4 Virtual Bank Licenses Awarded

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  1. #21

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    @East_coast - Emotions aside, since you have a revolut thing in that photo, would you, if you had any regulatory powers, allow them to operate a virtual bank in HK?


  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    @East_coast - Emotions aside, since you have a revolut thing in that photo, would you, if you had any regulatory powers, allow them to operate a virtual bank in HK?
    If they can abide by the local regulations I can't see a valid reason why the larger players in the international market would not get a banking licence. Just as larger international investment banks can come and operate in Hong Kong so should these online only banks. It seems strange that none of the established players were not in the first 2 rounds of licence handouts. Perhaps times have changed.

  3. #23

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    Standard Chartered is not an established player?


  4. #24
    https://www.reuters.com/article/hong...-idUSL3N2670UH

    “This form of banking service is mainly aimed at the youth, millennials, and many of them are out on the street these days joining the protests,” said a senior executive at one of the licence winners.

    “It will be difficult to launch a brand campaign around them and attract their interest when their priority is clearly not having another bank account,” said the executive, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

  5. #25

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    They would have delayed even without the protests. Nobody has a ready MVP to bring to the market.

    shri, tf19 and timonoj like this.

  6. #26

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    This is true...maybe a copy of Revolut


  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by inf_777:
    This is true...maybe a copy of Revolut
    Exactly...taking advantage the fact they didn't grant revolut a license, even though they've been trying for several years now.

  8. #28

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    I love how everything is being blamed on the protesters. These banks can't hire enough staff to get the HKMA onboard with their control infrastructure. That has nothing to do with protesters. Unless one argues the potential staff are busy protesting and not interviewing. I've heard Livi is not even close to being staffed up, and they have a huge banking team to draw from.

    traineeinvestor and shri like this.

  9. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by threelittlepigs:
    I love how everything is being blamed on the protesters. These banks can't hire enough staff to get the HKMA onboard with their control infrastructure. That has nothing to do with protesters. Unless one argues the potential staff are busy protesting and not interviewing. I've heard Livi is not even close to being staffed up, and they have a huge banking team to draw from.
    Agree with this.

    Also, even when they are up and running, I suspect it will be harder than expected to gain traction in Hong Kong at the moment anyway due to a number of factors.

    In times of uncertainty, people tend to stick with known believing (rightly or wrongly) it's safer. In this case that means keeping your money in a known bank rather than exposing yourself to something new. Also, the traditional banks are upping their game - day-to-day banking is all but free: there are no account charges, no changes for local payments/cash withdrawals, no changes for credit cards and no charges for holding securities. The only charges most people will pay are for international remittances (including FX conversion spreads) and trading in securities. Unless you do a lot of the latter, it seems that the incentives for opening a new bank account are unlikely to justify the cost and inconvenience of going through the account opening process?

    Also, the traditional banks have upped their game in terms of mobile access giving even less reason to move an account over.

    In summary, I'm struggling to see why I personally would benefit from opening an account with one of the new virtual banks?

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by threelittlepigs:
    I love how everything is being blamed on the protesters. These banks can't hire enough staff to get the HKMA onboard with their control infrastructure. That has nothing to do with protesters. Unless one argues the potential staff are busy protesting and not interviewing. I've heard Livi is not even close to being staffed up, and they have a huge banking team to draw from.
    But King Arthur and Fanny Law told us that the protesters are academic failures and prostitutes so surely that can't be the reason! =P