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James Orme writes:

The race to disrupt Hong Kong’s traditional banking sector is heating up with four new major companies winning [techerati.com] licenses to create virtual banks in the city.

The latest players to be granted licenses are Tencent Holdings Ltd., Ant Financial, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Xiaomi Corp. The latest approvals follow three licenses granted in March to a variety of joint ventures backed by the likes of Standard Chartered, Ctrip and ZhongAn.

Tencent is partnering with ICBC’s Hong Kong Unit, HKEX, Hillhouse Capital and Perfect Ridge in a venture called Infinium Ltd. Xiaomi and Ant received their permits via local entities.

The four virtual banks plan to launch their services in six to nine months. In a statement, HKMA said it will “closely monitor” their operations once they have commenced business.

Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, said: “We are pleased to grant four more virtual banking licences today. The HKMA is now working closely with the 8 virtual bank licensees to prepare for the launch of their business operations in accordance with their plans.”

Source: https://techerati.com/news-hub/tencent-and-ant-financial-latest-firms-to-be-awarded-virtual-banking-licenses-in-hong-kong/ [techerati.com]

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