Hong Kong start-up Yintran aims to eliminate paper cheques and facilitate free money transfers

Hong Kong residents and small businesses can now do away with writing paper cheques or paying fees for interbank transfers thanks to Yintran, a financial technology start-up that allows its users to conduct money transfers for free online.

Founded in 2014, the Hong Kong-based money transfer network has over 20 partner banks in Hong Kong, and currently supports transfers for bank accounts in Hong Kong dollars or Chinese yuan.

Once users link their Yintran account to their personal bank account, they can top up their Yintran balance and make a funds transfer to contacts either via the Yintran website or mobile app.

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SL Robert Liu, founder of Yintran, said that he conceived the idea because of the inconvenience of having to write multiple paper cheques for bills and invoices he receives each month.

“About 150 million cheques are written in Hong Kong every year,” said Liu, adding that Yintran will make it more convenient for freelancers or property managers to get paid. Small businesses can also pay vendors or suppliers with Yintran instead of writing paper cheques.

“With Yintran, users won’t need to cash their cheques at banks any more, they can simply be paid through our network.”

Friends can also transfer money easily to each other across banks, without incurring any interbank transfer charges when processed through the banks’ internet banking system.

WATCH: Yintran’s money transfer system explained