Survey shows multi-billion deposit potential for virtual banks

The average savings customers are willing to place in virtual banks is HK$106,850, suggesting a potential market size of HK$152 billion, a survey from Field Resource Consultant showed.

In August, only 4 percent of respondents had virtual bank accounts, compared to 7 percent by December.

Eight virtual banks were awarded licenses by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in the first half of 2019 and launched around year-end.

As of December, the most used virtual banks by survey respondents were ZA Bank, Airstar Bank, Ant Bank (Hong Kong) and MOX.

“We believe that the existing payment functions of virtual banking are insufficient to satisfy the consumers’ needs,” said Walter Chan, managing director and head of User Research of Field Resources Consultant. “The development of strategies, such as Faster Payment System or issuing Visa or Mastercard debit cards, would help overall development.”

FRC surveyed 1,000 people aged over 18 years and 601 participants aged from 25 to 49 years, via an online questionnaire and also interviewed 14 people.