HSBC (0005) is set to debut an international payments app aimed at directly challenging the dominance of fintechs such as Revolut and Wise that have gathered tens of millions of retail customers by offering cheap foreign exchange.
Zing will initially be offered in the UK, but Europe's largest bank is planning to roll it out in other places in the coming months as it looks to grab a share of the fast-growing market servicing affluent consumers.
The app will be available on Apple's Appstore and Alphabet's Google Play platform within days and will be open to non-HSBC customers as the bank prepares to "attack" the worldwide retail payments market, according to Nuno Matos, chief executive of global wealth and personal banking business. Matos said it would take about three minutes for a new user to sign up.
The move shows how some global financial giants are seeking to compete against a slew of startups that have rapidly expanded over the past decade by offering services ranging from cross-border payments to savings accounts and investing products on mobile devices.
Shares of Wise, listed in London in 2021, surged more than 50 percent last year. Revolut, with over 26 million users, expects 2023 revenue to jump almost 70 percent to US$2 billion (HK$15.6 billion).
HSBC already has a product called Global Money that offers customers currency services free of fees. Since its debut in 2020, the service has attracted hundreds of thousands of customers and processed transactions worth about US$11 billion in 2022.
Matos expects Zing will attract users who might then consider doing more of their banking with HSBC as part of a drive that started last year to become the leading financial institution for internationally mobile customers.
Its subsidiary, Hang Seng Bank (0011), has appointed former Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce chief executive George Leung Siu-kay as senior adviser in the chief executive's office.
Before his HKGCC stint, Leung worked as adviser to the deputy chairman and chief executive of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation since 2005.
The Hang Seng Index Co will announce the results of its latest quarterly review on February 16.
