HSBC, No Virtual Bank License Required for Digital Supremacy

HSBC continues to ramp up its digital investments and developments, claiming that a virtual banking license is not necessary for virtual banking supremacy.

The bank has globally spent $2.2 billion on growth and digital enhancements in the first half of 2019, a 17 percent year-on-year increase. Although it is cutting global headcount, digital talent remains in demand for the bank which hired 1,000 staff for related teams in Hong Kong and the broader Asia Pacific region.

Despite its digital developments, HSBC has not pursued a virtual banking license and it insists that there is no need.

HSBC has invested significantly in its digital banking platforms, said Andrew Eldon, HSBC’s Hong Kong head of digital banking, in an SCMP report. There is nothing a virtual bank can do which we cannot offer. We do not believe we must have a virtual bank license to operate digital banking services.

HSBC is very keen on investment in our digital platform and talent,» reiterated Andrew Connell, the bank’s global head of partnership development and innovation, retail banking and wealth management, citing the success of the PayMe app and a high rate of transactions executed through digital platforms at 90 percent.

The bank is also placing emphasis on artificial intelligence and robotics to further improve efficiency. It currently has 1,600 robotic devices globally that processed 11.5 million transactions last year, a tenfold increase from 2017, with success stories in mortgage loan applications in Canada (speed up from 22 days to 1 day) and credit card approvals in Hong Kong (from 6 days to 1 day).

AI is an important area for us to invest in. Banking services that adopt AI technology can be quicker and more accurate than through traditional processes,» Connell said.