Hang Seng Bank has joined the ranks of foreign financial institutions given the go-ahead to launch online banking services on the mainland.
The HSBC subsidiary's head of commercial banking David Tam Wai-hung said yesterday it had received approval from the mainland's banking watchdog - the People's Bank of China (PBOC) - to provide online banking services for retail customers, and expected to launch the service around the middle of next year.
A bank spokesman said that before the launching of the service, Hang Seng Bank would still need to obtain a permit from the State Commercial Encryption Committee.
He was speaking at the bank's briefing yesterday announcing the addition of trading, cash management and loan functions to its local business online banking services.
Foreign banks have been eager to set up Internet banking services on the mainland, where branch networks are outnumbered by those of their mainland counterparts. So far only HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and the Bank of East Asia have been given the green light to operate online banks there.
Meanwhile, Mr Tam said Hang Seng Bank wanted to introduce its online business banking services on the mainland by the end of next year. Services provided probably would be similar to those available to Hong Kong customers, Mr Tam said.