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Tag: Finance

  • Mastercard and Mox Partner to Launch All-In-One Numberless Bank Card

    Mastercard and Mox Partner to Launch All-In-One Numberless Bank Card

    Mastercard today announced its partnership with Mox Bank Limited (“Mox”), a new virtual bank backed by Standard Chartered in partnership with PCCW, HKT and Trip.com, to introduce an all-in-one numberless bank card to Hong Kong. The innovative solution offers one card for all purchases and ATM withdrawals, creating a simple, smart, safe and secure payment experience for cardholders.

    Fostering smart city development, the new card adopts the “digital first” principle by featuring only the embedded chip, the cardholder’s name and the Mastercard and Mox logos. Other pieces of information visible on traditional bank cards – such as the card number, expiry date and card validation code (CVC2) – are saved in the chip and can only be accessed digitally, further enhancing privacy and security.

    With its fast, secure and reliable global network, Mastercard gives Mox cardholders robust, multi-layered protection. As important card details are digitally stored, cardholders benefit from greater security and convenience by simply logging in to Mox’s mobile app and verifying their identities to obtain the required information when making purchases.

    “Mastercard has been known for its technological innovation in the payments industry for years. We are excited to partner with Mastercard on our journey as we look to make banking simpler, smarter and safer through the launch of our virtual bank in Hong Kong this year, and through the introduction of the new numberless bank card,” saidDeniz Güven, Chief Executive Officer, Mox.

    “Through innovative payment technology such as the digital first, numberless bank card, Mastercard is proud to showcase its leadership in the payments industry. Mastercard’s partnership with virtual bank Mox to provide a fast, safe and convenient cashless payment experience also demonstrates its commitment to pushing forward the development of Hong Kong as a smart city,” said Helena Chen, Managing Director, Hong Kong and Macau, Mastercard.

    Getting the Mox card is fast, secure and free. When Mox launches, you can open a Mox account simply and start using the digital card within a few minutes from your mobile phone anytime, anywhere. A physical card, which features one-tap card activation via near-field communication (NFC) technology, is also available to cardholders. The Mox card carries the 3-D Secure software designed for safe online purchases, as well as a lock/unlock function that lets cardholders have full control over their card usage.

    Cardholders can also monitor their real-time account activity and balance with instant categorization. With Mox’s intelligent 24/7 monitoring system in effect, users are protected from fraudulent, unauthorized transactions. The card face designs come in a beautiful blue or in a limited-edition black stainless steel exclusively for Founding Members, adding style and creativity to the cashless experience.

    Go digital and experience a fast, hassle-free, safe and secure way to pay with the Mox card powered by Mastercard.

     

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  • DBS Launches Income Fund for Retiree Investors

    DBS Launches Income Fund for Retiree Investors

    The multi-asset Schroder Asia More+ fund includes a unique decumulation share class targeted at retiree investors.

    DBS Bank on Friday announced the launch of a new fund with Schroders that offers investors an income-generating solution with exposure to a range of investment growth themes across Asia, including technology, consumption, logistics and financial services.

    The fund is available in three share classes – accumulation, distribution, and decumulation – to cater for different investment objectives. The decumulation share class is designed for retirees and investors whose goals have shifted from accumulating wealth to drawing down from assets, and has an intended payout of 6.88 percent per annum, while drawing down from their capital over the long term.

    The concept of decumulation is still relatively new in Singapore, and we hope that this product will get more Singaporeans to think about managing retirement savings in their twilight years, Lim Soon Chong, regional head of investment products and advisory, DBS Consumer Banking and Wealth Management, said about the new fund.

    According to the announcement, the fund was developed using insights gained from the Schroders Global Investor Study, which revealed that Singapore investors have rising income expectations from their investment portfolios and that many are overly optimistic about how long their retirement savings will last.

    The embedded resilience features in this product will help it navigate through the current climate of uncertainty while generating income, through a combination of investing in new emerging growth drivers and income-generating assets, Lily Choh, deputy CEO, Singapore, and head of distribution, Southeast Asia, Schroders, said.

    Customers will be able to invest in Schroder Asia More+ from S$1,000 ($717). The dynamically managed fund has no lock-in period and low management costs, and is approved for investment using funds from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Supplementary Retirement Scheme. Although primarily invested in Asia, it is weighted towards Singapore-based assets. Investors may choose to invest in  SGD, AUD, or USD.

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  • DBS Offers Framework for Sustainable Development

    DBS Offers Framework for Sustainable Development

    The bank said its new framework will help clients on their journeys to more sustainable business models while providing timely transition finance and increasing transparency for transactions and projects.

    DBS has launched the world’s first sustainable and transition finance framework and taxonomy and will offer transition financing as part of the bank’s efforts to help clients from key industries to transition to a low-carbon economy, the bank announced on Tuesday.

    The bank said the framework will form the bedrock for DBS to engage with clients who are furthering their sustainability agenda and serve as a reference to guide clients to adapt and build resilience in the face of climate change, resource scarcity, and address critical global issues such as social inequality.

    At the same time, the taxonomy outlines the way DBS manages transactions that are classified as Green, Transition and/or contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), and summarises eligible economic activities.

    DBS said it will take a prudent, scientific approach to evaluate the transitional qualities of the economic activities and whether clients have a strategy to adapt their businesses to meet the threat of climate change and to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

    There are many interpretations of what constitutes transition finance. The bottom line is we cannot afford to dismiss clients who carry out activities which are less than dark-green but are nonetheless part of the mainstream economy instrumental to getting us below 1.5-degree temperature increase, Yulanda Chung, head of sustainability, institutional banking, said.

    Every transitional step towards reducing carbon footprint will make a significant, cumulative difference over time, Chung added.

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  • HSBC Nets Southeast Asia Equities Duo from Deutsche Bank

    HSBC Nets Southeast Asia Equities Duo from Deutsche Bank

    HSBC bolsters its Southeast Asian equities unit in Singapore with two new hires from Deutsche Bank, furthering its Asia expansion amid a major overhaul. HSBC hires Edward Lee as regional head of equity capital markets and Joy Wang as the head of Southeast Asia equities research, according to a report.

    Lee had over 20 years of industry experience and was most recently with Deutsche Bank as its co-head of investment banking coverage and head of equity capital markets, Southeast Asia.

    Wang was also most recently with Deutsche Bank where she was last its co-head of APAC property equity research in addition to other roles.

    Lee and Wang become the third joiners in less than a year from Deutsche Bank to HSBC in Singapore. In September last year, HSBC named ex-Deutsche Bank regional vice chairman Philip Lee as its new Southeast Asia vice-chairman.

    Restructuring at both HSBC and Deutsche Bank has led to a flurry of talent movement between the two lenders across business divisions. Just last month, Deutsche Bank hired former HSBC private banker Chow Shang-Wei to become the Southeast Asia head of its wealth arm.

    And outside of Asia, HSBC reportedly hired Deutsche Bank’s former co-head of corporate finance for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Adam Bagshaw as its global co-head of advisory and investment banking coverage.

  • Axa IM Adds Japan Assets to Portfolio

    Axa IM Adds Japan Assets to Portfolio

    The acquisition forms part of the firm’s wider long term strategy on behalf of clients to invest in residential asset classes it believes are supported by strong demographic drivers.

    Axa Investment Managers (IM) – Real Assets has added to its €20 billion portfolios of residential assets under management spread across 15 countries, with the purchase of a multi-generational and multi-sector residential tower in Nagoya, Japan for ¥20 billion ($186 million).

    The newly built Grade A residential tower is located within walking distance of Nagoya’s central business district in a newly redeveloped area. It comprises 430 residential units and 130 co-living units, as well as 66 units comprising a mix of pure residential for the elderly together with care or nursing service options.

    Laurent Jacquemin, head of Asia-Pacific at Axa IM – Real Assets, said the deal «proved particularly attractive given the city’s continued investment in improving local infrastructure coupled with its growing population, both of which underpin the potential for us to generate stable income.»

    The acquisition is the firm’s fourth residential investment in Nagoya and its 12th in Japan, where it has invested more than ¥16 billion in residential assets on behalf of clients. Its previous deal was also for a residential tower in Nagoya, completed in November.

    Axa IM said the Nagoya residential market lacks affordable residential stock for rent that’s suitable for families, while demand is likely to continue to rise in line with robust economic growth and infrastructure investment.

     

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  • Wirecard Assessing Singapore Services

    Wirecard Assessing Singapore Services

    The firm is at the center of one of the region’s biggest corporate accounting scandals in recent years, having admitted that €1.9 billion is missing from its financial accounts. Wirecard has informed the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that it is assessing if it can continue providing its services in Singapore, which include credit card payments and usage of its pre-paid cards, following its parent company’s insolvency filing in Germany.

    MAS is closely monitoring the operations of Wirecard, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday, noting that the company has complied with directions to hold customers’ funds in segregated accounts with banks here.

    DBS is seeking details from Wirecard if it can continue to use its services, and will transition to other service providers if necessary, while UOB and OCBC merchant partners use payment gateways by Mastercard and Visa and not Wirecard.

    The German payments processor, once seen as a rising star in the fintech world, has come under intense scrutiny over its alleged improper accounting conduct, which came to a head on June 18, when it was supposed to report its full-year-2019 and first-quarter-2020 results after three delays.

    However, auditor EY said it could not find sufficient audit evidence of the missing €1.9 billion in the firm’s balance sheet.

    This led to the resignation of CEO and largest shareholder Markus Braun on June 19, and his arrest several days later by German authorities on suspicion of market manipulation and false data.

    The Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), which deals with white-collar crimes, started criminal investigations into Wirecard’s operations in the country in February 2019.

    MAS said on Monday that it was working with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and CAD to scrutinize other possible aspects of the case.

  • UBS Closes London Harassment Case

    UBS Closes London Harassment Case

    UBS settled a discrimination and harassment lawsuit with a former graduate of the Swiss firm’s investment banking unit in London. A woman who accused the Zurich-based bank of fomenting a culture of harassment and intimidation has settled with UBS, her lawyer said Monday. We are able to confirm that a settlement was reachaed with UBS, Suzanne McKie of Farore Law said, adding that financial details are sealed.

    The settlement brings to a close a more than two-year saga involving a former graduate that roiled both UBS and the wider investment banking industry. The graduate alleged that she had been raped by her superior, and separately that she had been groped by a managing director at an event hosted by UBS. The Swiss bank’s handling via an outside probe by a major London law firm was slammed, and the case is being investigated by the U.K. regulator.

    The graduate alleged that she had been transferred repeatedly against her wish during the investigation by the bank. She also says to have been threatened with dismissal should she discuss her ordeal outside the bank.

    The settlement means the former graduate will withdraw her claim against UBS. The agreement with UBS includes a five-figure donation to British-based whistleblowing charity Protect, which first reported the settlement.

    The episode sparked several changes at UBS, including moving top investment banker Emma Molvidson into an investigative role and beefing up human resources with a J.P. Morgan top executive. Separately, Molvidson, part of an elite cadre of UBS managing directors, added the additional role of employee conduct risk to her remit in April.

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  • UBS Names Co-Head of Australasia Equities

    UBS Names Co-Head of Australasia Equities

    A veteran of the Swiss private bank, who left in 2016 after 23 years, is returning to the fold as co-head of equities for Australasia.

    Based in Sydney, Chris Scott will begin his new role in August, working alongside co-head Steve Boxall and reporting to Asia-Pacific head of equities Taichi Takahashi, «AFR» reported on Friday, citing a memo circulated to UBS staff.

    According to his LinkedIn profile, Scott first joined UBS in 1992 spent nine years in Sydney as part of the bank’s equity derivatives team, and subsequently relocated to Tokyo, where he built and managed UBS Japan’s equity trading and derivatives business for 11 years. In 2012, Scott moved to Hong Kong, where he was head of APAC equity derivative trading and co-head of APAC equity derivatives.

    He returned to Sydney in 2016, and has since held roles at Asia Pacific Capital and HEAL Partners.

    The report noted that Scott’s appointment comes amid several high-profile departures of senior investment bankers from UBS in Australia, including country head Matthew Grounds and head of capital markets and head of corporate advisory Guy Fowler in 2019.

    Former co-head of investment banking Aidan Allen also left the firm earlier this month.

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  • DBS Inks Taxi Tie-Up

    DBS Inks Taxi Tie-Up

    DBS and ComfortDelgro, which operates a fleet of about 10,000 taxis in Singapore, have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance payment services for their customers in Singapore, the bank announced on Thursday.

    With the partnership, ComfortDelGro is the first public transport operator to be integrated into DBS’ «PayLah!» ecosystem, which serves 1.7 million users in Singapore. Customers can access and pay for their taxi bookings directly and seamlessly on the platform.

    «This marks a significant milestone in our journey to inject dynamism into our mobile ecosystem platform, where we leverage technology and artificial intelligence to proactively piece together individual journeys for our customers. In doing so, we can provide personalized nudges and contextualized offers which they will welcome as thoughtful reminders,» Jeremy Soo, DBS’ Singapore head of consumer banking, said in the announcement.

    The two parties previously partnered to introduce QR code payment for taxi rides in 2017, which helped pave the way for consumers in Singapore to use QR code payments widely in everyday transactions. According to the bank, 20 percent of QR code transactions took place within the transport segment before the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • 10 Million Asia Pacific Small Businesses to Participate in Visa’s Global

    10 Million Asia Pacific Small Businesses to Participate in Visa’s Global

    Visa, today announced a commitment to support 10 million small businesses across Asia Pacific in an effort to get local communities back to business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Visa is introducing a range of programs and solutions to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) drive efficiency and sales by accepting and making payments digitally to meet increased demand for cashless payments – both online and in-store. Visa also formed the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) focused on economic and societal issues, including pandemic challenges SMEs face and closing racial and gender opportunity gaps.

    The 10 million pledge is part of a global program that will see Visa supporting 50 million small businesses worldwide. Small businesses will play a vital role in helping communities recover – they account for more than half of global employment and are among the most affected by the pandemic. In Asia Pacific, SMEs account for more than 90 per cent of businesses and employ 50 per cent of the workforce.

    In addition to the economic impacts, COVID-19 is accelerating the use of digital commerce experiences, from people seeking new ways to pay that do not involve touching a terminal to a boom in eCommerce, as stay-home orders result in shopping online instead of in-store. In Asia Pacific, 41% of consumers made five or more eCommerce transactions in the past three months. Three quarters of consumers in the region have said they will keep using digital payments instead of going back to cash, even after the global pandemic has subsided.

    “Commerce across Asia Pacific is shifting further into digital in the wake of COVID-19, from more people ordering essentials online to people looking for secure, touchless ways to pay in person,” said Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa. “Visa’s role as a payments network means we can help SMEs adapt to these new ways of managing and growing their business, ensuring that these crucial players can recover.”

    To help small businesses, Visa is focusing initially on four strategic areas to promote digital commerce and economic growth, with plans to continue to create products and services as the needs of entrepreneurs change over time. These areas include:

    • Empowering digital-first businesses: Visa has built localised online resource centres – now available in more than 20 countries and territories – providing tools, partner offers and information on how to start, run and grow a digital small business. Visa is teaming up with leading eCommerce platforms such as Shopify and Boutir to help local businesses get online. Visa will be expanding its global partnership with IFundWomen to Asia Pacific, providing grants and digital training to women-owned small businesses in India.
    • Encouraging digital payments:  Deploying easy to adopt touchless payment technology – rapidly, and at scale – is critical to enabling faster, more secure commerce. Visa is working to introduce low-cost digital payments acceptance, including solutions that do not require point-of-sale systems and can enable a merchant’s mobile phone to become a payment terminal. Visa and our partners have launched tap to phone solutions in Malaysia, with more Asia Pacific markets such as Australia, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Vietnam to follow. Visa is also supporting SMEs to make business-to-business (B2B) payments digitally. By digitalising procurement payments through the use of a Visa Business Card, SMEs can utilise reconciliation tools and benefit from higher efficiency and data insights, in addition to managing their working capital effectively. Visa has curated special partner offers for SMEs using these business cards, which include access to cloud accounting platforms, digital marketing and professional courses.
    • Incentivising neighbourhood support: Visa partnerships encourage consumers to shop local and remind them that where you shop matters. The Visa Back to Business Project – an online tool that helps consumers identify businesses that may be open in the wake of the pandemic or a natural disaster – is now live in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., and further expanding globally. Visa has launched its new ‘Where You Shop Matters’ initiative in Australia and New Zealand that champions and enables entrepreneurs while encouraging consumers to support small businesses. Visa will be expanding the initiative to other Asia Pacific markets such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
    • Developing positioning and policy: In addition to the initiatives Visa is undertaking, the company today announced the formation of the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute. This new institute comprises Visa experts and partners who will help address underlying problems and provide insights for SMEs growth and closing racial and gender gaps. Key projects in the next six months will address topics including post-crisis recovery and resilience, urban mobility, closing equality opportunity gaps and insights into the gig economy.

    Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager for Visa Thailand, said: “As part of this commitment, Visa Thailand repurposed its available resources and struck new partnerships with fintechs to help small and micro businesses make the necessary digital transformation. The recently-launched Everyone Speaks Visa program is helping businesses of all sizes gain access to digital payments that are fast, convenient and secure.  In addition, as businesses reopen and consumers head back in-store, Visa is committed to ensuring buyers and sellers have the best and safest commerce experience through the acceptance of digital payments.  To that end, Visa is partnering with merchant partners across the country to expand the use of contactless terminals in order to help meet the growing demand for safe, secure and reliable digital payments.”

    Today’s announcement follows a global commitment from the Visa Foundation announced in April, to provide USD210 million in COVID-19 relief funding to address the longer-term needs of the small and micro business community over the next five years.

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  • HSBC Singapore Spared as Overhaul Resumes

    HSBC Singapore Spared as Overhaul Resumes

    The bank’s said that the city-state remains a growth market and will continue to hire talent in its bid to become the leading international bank.

    Singapore will not be affected this year by the bank’s restructuring exercise that is expected to see it shed some 35,000 employees globally, people familiar with the matter said.

    The bank said plans to hire more than 400 retail and private banking customer-facing employees by 2023 also remains on track.

    Since 2018, HSBC Singapore has grown its headcount by 10 percent and has invested in our premises, digital capability and propositions in order to grow our customer base and market share,» a spokesperson said, the newspaper reported. «These investments and growth ambitions will continue.

    Yesterday, HSBC lifted its moratorium on job cuts to about 15 percent of its workforce, announced in March at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn, who unveiled the overhaul in February, told the bank’s 235,000 global staff in a memo that the exercise is even more necessary today.

    The British lender is currently at the center of a controversy over its support for Beijing’s new security law for Hong Kong, the bank’s most important market.

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  • OCBC Bank to reopen all branches over the next two weeks

    OCBC Bank to reopen all branches over the next two weeks

    OCBC Bank announced it would reopen five branches tomorrow, 19 June 2020, due to the expected increase in customer traffic as Singapore enters Phase Two of ‘Safe Re-opening’. They are located in Bishan, Buking Panjang, Jurong West, and at City Square Mall and Paya Lebar Square. This brings the total number of branches open up to 32. The remaining branches which were closed during Singapore’s ‘circuit breaker’ period will progressively reopen over the next two weeks.

    OCBC Bank will also resume all in-person meetings with customers on an appointment basis for all financial services. These meetings can be held within the bank’s premises or at external locations, and include home loan applications, bancassurance sales and wealth management advisory services for bonds, funds, and structured investments (which took effect on bank premises since 12 June 2020) for retail banking. In-person meetings by appointment will also resume for corporate and commercial banking services for large corporates and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs).

    However, OCBC Bank’s retail banking customers are encouraged to continue to use its virtual wealth advisory service, which includes the comprehensive Financial Needs Analysis, for their financial planning needs. The virtual wealth advisory service via secure video conferencing with an OCBC Bank financial advisor was launched on 18 April 2020during the Circuit Breaker.

    Safe distancing measures continue to be enforced

    For the safety of employees and customers, OCBC Bank employees will wear face masks while rendering the in-person home loans, bancassurance and wealth advisory services. Customers are required to wear face masks. All employees and customers entering OCBC Bank branches have been using SafeEntry since the app was mandated as a contact tracing tool. TraceTogether has been used by all branch employees and by customers who are coming to the branches for face-to-face wealth advisory services.

    Temperature screenings and one metre queue markings at branches are strictly enforced to keep employees and customers safe. Employees also ensure that customers are practicing safe distancing of at least one metre within the branch waiting area. At branch locations where it is feasible, separate queues with seats are provided for elderly and pregnant customers. Branch employees will assist seniors to perform the SafeEntry QR code scanning if they are unable to do so independently.

    Mr Sunny Quek, OCBC Bank’s Head of Consumer Financial Services, Singapore, said: “As we transition to Phase Two of Singapore’s ‘Safe Reopening’, we continue to encourage our customers to use our digital banking platforms for their day-to-day banking needs, and to invest in wealth management products and apply for credit cards, home loans and personal loans. While all our branches will open progressively and we look forward to serving our customers’ needs, our financial advisory services will continue to remain available virtually via video conferencing with our financial advisors, so customers can receive timely investment and financial advice from the comforts of their home, without having to come to a branch.”

    The list of 32 branches and one dedicated OCBC Premier Banking Centre in operation from 19 June 2020 are:

      Branch
    1 Ang Mo Kio
    2 Ang Mo Kio Central
    3 Bedok
    4 Bedok North
    5 Bishan
    6 Bukit Batok
    7 Bukit Panjang
    8 Causeway Point
    9 Choa Chu Kang
    10 City Square Mall
    11 Clementi
    12 Compass One
    13 Harbourfront
    14 Hougang Mall
    15 ION Orchard
    16 Jurong East
    17 Jurong Point
    18 Jurong West
    19 Marine Parade
    20 NEX
    21 NorthPoint
    22 OCBC Centre
    23 Orchard Gateway
    24 Paya Lebar Square
    25 Sixth Avenue
    26 Sun Plaza
    27 Tampines
    28 Thomson
    29 Tiong Bahru Plaza
    30 Toa Payoh Centre
    31 Waterway Point
    32 White Sands
       
      Dedicated OCBC Premier Banking Centre
    1 Parkway Parade

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  • Maybank Sued for Loan Pullback

    Maybank Sued for Loan Pullback

    Malayan Bank Berhad – better known as Maybank – is reportedly being sued for effectively thwarting a Manhattan-based proper project after allegedly reneging on a loan agreement.

    American real estate developer Sharif El-Gamal said that the Malaysian lender and other syndicate members ignored and breached their obligations under the building facility and related loan documents which caused «irreparable damage to the plaintiff’s relationship with its contractor, leading to a cessation of all work, according to a report citing a notice last week.

    El-Gamal, also chairman and chief executive of Soho Properties, is seeking an award of more than $245 million which he claims is the net sell-out value of the property that has been filed for disclosure by the loan syndicate.

    According to El-Gamal, Maybank reneged on agreements to provide more than $162 million in syndicated construction loans to fund the project in New York.

    At the time of the project’s announcement, El-Gamal reportedly also said in a statement a senior construction loan totaling US$174 million was received from a syndicate that also included Warba Bank of Kuwait and Intesa Sanpaolo alongside US$45 million in mezzanine financing from MASIC, a Saudi investment firm.

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  • Revolut, Appears to be a Normal Bank

    Revolut, Appears to be a Normal Bank

    Revolut has announced the introduction of fees for free account users. This will anger customers and is a perfect example of how to botch an opportunity.

    The noise surrounding U.K.-based digital bank Revolut has just become a fair degree louder in recent days: the company announced to its free-account customers in an email that the days of using a service free-of-charge were numbered.

    We’ve been talking with thousands of you about how we can help you get even more from your money, was the introductory statement. The remainder of the letter was devoted to how Revolut was going to make more money from serving its clients.

    And that’s why it will introduce forex fees on August 12, 2020. From that day onwards, sending money abroad will cost $1.06 for a transaction in the respective country’s currency, 4 francs for transactions in the dollar, and 6 francs in any other currency – for instance, if you wish to send pound sterling to someone in Brazil.

    Furthermore, the upper limit for free exchange orders will be lowered to 1,250 francs and the percentage charged for orders on weekends increased to 1 percent from 0.5 percent.

    That will anger a substantial percentage of the bank’s clients. A large majority of Revolut clients have used the services of the digital bank to make foreign payments precisely because costs were low and fees almost inexistent.

    So to introduce fees for a service that has been advertised as free of charge is more than just a little ironic. It smacks more of how you’d expect a normal bank to behave and not a fintech. At least if you held a similar view of banks as the founder of Revolut, who had launched his company precisely because of such actions.

    It is also poignant at what point of time the company has chosen to announce the changes. Revolut, which has been typically bullish about its performance, seems to have been forced to raise the fees because of a drop in revenues during the pandemic lockdown.

    Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky in May claimed that the bank was awash with money after a recently concluded financing round and that he considered making acquisitions. That was shortly after reports about the departure of more than a dozen of the bank’s managers and the announcement that it would cut 60 jobs.

    A further 50 jobs are on the line in Poland and Portugal, according to a report, an online magazine. And the way of disposing of the workers raises some questions: ex-employees have said that they were called into their manager’s office one morning and told to choose between resigning or being sacked.

    And the rest of the staff were said to have received one part of their salary in recent months in stock, more or less voluntarily.

    Revolut is using such methods to reach its goal of profitability by year-end. The corona-crisis looks to have hampered its efforts. Revolut seems one of the very few payment fintechs not to have profited from the stay-at-home message that boosted online shopping.

  • Hong Kong’s Second Digital Bank Enters the Market

    Hong Kong’s Second Digital Bank Enters the Market

    The Xiaomi-AMTD joint venture has launched Airstar Bank, becoming the second digital lender to enter the Hong Kong market.

    Airstar Bank will offer savings accounts, time deposits and personal loan deposits alongside tools such as mobile app-based financial planning analysis. Loan rates as low as 2.99 percent per annum and deposit rates as high as 3.6 percent will be offered.

    Airstar Bank was granted a digital banking license by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in May 2019 and launched a pilot in March to offer a trial for 2,000 selected users under the central bank’s fintech supervisory sandbox.

    Airstar Bank is determined to deliver the full benefits of emerging financial technologies and innovative solutions, providing each and every customer with proactive stellar banking experience regardless of their wealth,» the bank said, according to a report, dubbing itself Everyone’s Bank.

    Airstar joins ZA Bank – backed by mainland insurer ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance and industrial firm Sinolink Group – as the two out of eight licensed virtual banks that have launched.

    In April, Mox Bank – backed by Standard Chartered, PCCW, HKT and Trip.com – also launched its own pilot. This included features like easy registration, user-centric experiences and high security, clients and an «all-in-one numberless bank card – a card for purchases and cash withdrawals with no expiry date, verification value or other numbers to reduce risks.

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