Virtual banks close to reality as Hong Kong issues guidelines with 50 companies showing interest
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank and banking regulator sets August 31 as the deadline for receiving the first batch of applications
More than 50 companies from across the world have expressed interest in applying for virtual bank licences, with Hong Kong Monetary Authority setting August 31 as the deadline for receiving applications for the first batch of purely online banks.
“We have set up a special team to handle the applications,” HKMA deputy chief executive Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang told a media briefing after Hong Kong’s de facto central bank and regulator issued the guidelines on Wednesday. “For those who want to be among the first batch of applicants, they should submit the application before the end of August.”
Yuen said he was not be sure if all these 50 firms would submit applications, although many of them had already given some initial information about their business plan.
“These companies came from Hong Kong, the mainland and elsewhere,” Yuen said and hoped that the first licences could be issued by the end of this year or the first quarter of next year.
The HKMA will scrutinise the IT platform of the applicants, the viability of their business plans and their financial background.
Now that the guidelines have been issued the applicants can formally apply for a licence immediately.
