HONG KONG - Hong Kong has issued online-only banking licenses to three groups, including joint ventures (JVs) of Standard Chartered and BOC Hong Kong, in what could be the biggest shake up in years in the city's retail banking sector.

Besides StanChart and BOC Hong Kong joint ventures, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) also issued the so-called virtual banking license to a venture led by ZhongAn Technologies International Group.

The license will give holders access to a lucrative retail banking market in the Asian financial hub.

"It's definitely a positive for the Hong Kong market, but the virtual banks have a long way to go," said Hoi Tak Leung, a senior technology sector lawyer at Ashurst.

"There's going to be some fierce competition with each other, and with the incumbents, and it is unlikely all will be successful."

The entrenched position in Hong Kong of established banks, such as HSBC, StanChart and a slew of banks, is expected to be a major challenge for the online-only license holders, whose road to profitability could be long.

HSBC, for example, made nearly $6 billion from its Hong Kong retail banking and wealth management operations last year, a third of total group profits and compared with $476 million in Britain, its second most profitable retail banking market.

The newly licensed virtual banks plan to launch services in six to nine months, HKMA deputy chief executive Arthur Yuen said, adding the regulator would process five more applications "as expeditiously as possible".

Some 33 virtual banking applications were submitted by the deadline of Aug 31 last year, and the HKMA short-listed eight.

DIGITAL STRATEGY

Besides individuals, small firms will also be targeted by the new online lenders, with small loans, foreign exchange and payment services among those on offer.

StanChart will own 65.1 percent of SC Digital Solutions Ltd JV, with the rest owned by Ctrip Financial, a unit of travel firm Ctrip.com as well as Hong Kong-based telecoms groups PCCW Ltd and its unit HKT Trust, and HKT Ltd.

BOC Hong Kong, a unit of Bank of China, will own 44 percent in the Livi VB Ltd JV, while JD Digits, a financial affiliate of e-commerce firm JD.com, will hold 36 percent and retail and property group Jardines 20 percent.

ZhongAn Technologies, a unit of online insurer ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance, will own 51 percent of the ZhongAn Virtual Finance JV, with the rest held by Hong Kong-listed realtor Sinolink Group.

StanChart, which makes the bulk of its revenue in Asia, has made investing in digital technology to accelerate growth in retail banking a key part of its new strategy.

Reuters