Hong Kong draws 29 applications for virtual bank licences

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Friday it had received 29 applications for the first batch of virtual bank licences, with the applicants ranging from telecommunications operators and financial technology companies to global banks.

“The HKMA has received a total of 29 applications as of 5pm on August 31. Since a lot of these were submitted over the past two days, the HKMA will need to assess if they are in order,” a spokesman said on Friday without disclosing any further information.

The spokesman said interested parties could still submit the application after Friday but they would not be in the first batch of processing. The HKMA earlier said 70 parties showed interested in the licences.

Six groups of applicants confirmed with the South China Morning Post that they have applied for a virtual bank licence by Friday’s deadline. The HKMA began accepting applications in May for the licences which will enable banks to operate online in the city without physical branches. The regulator set August 31 as the deadline for the first batch of applications.