In 2019 the HKMA issued eight licences to branchless banks — and stopped there: in its August 2024 review the regulator called the current number optimal and saw no strong case for new entrants. Since October 2024 the category is officially called licensed digital banks: the Chinese 虛擬 ("virtual") read as "not real", even though these are ordinary banks by licence — the same Banking Ordinance, the same capital and AML rules, deposits covered by the Deposit Protection Scheme up to HK$800,000 per depositor per bank (raised from HK$500,000 on 1 October 2024). Six years after launch the eight hold roughly HK$93 billion in customer deposits, and two of them have posted a full-year profit.
The map
All eight launched over the course of 2020: ZA Bank first, Fusion last in December. Two have since changed name — Airstar became EleBank on 23 April 2026 after the brokerage Futu took control, and PAO Bank became Ping An Digital Bank (International) Limited in March 2026. The licence and the supervision are unchanged in both cases; only the brand is new.
| Bank | Shareholder | Segment | Non-resident access |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZA Bank | ZhongAn Online (ZhongAn Technologies International) | retail + Hong Kong company accounts; stocks/ETFs and crypto | retail — HKID, HK mobile and HK address; business — single-layer HK company whose owners and directors all hold HKID and are HK tax residents |
| Mox | Standard Chartered (HK), majority, with PCCW, HKT and Trip.com | retail only: card, multi-currency wallet, Mox Invest, crypto | HKID (permanent or non-permanent) plus a Hong Kong residential address; no business accounts |
| WeLab Bank | WeLab Group — homegrown HK fintech | retail only: GoSave deposits, GoWealth funds, unsecured loans | HKID onboarding; no business accounts |
| livi bank | BOC Hong Kong (44%), JD Technology (36%), Jardine Matheson (20%) | retail + livi Business for HK SMEs; mainland transfers | business — HK-registered single-layer entity, all users with HKID or a mainland resident ID card |
| Ant Bank (Hong Kong) | Ant Group (Ant International) | retail around AlipayHK + SME lending | opened at launch on a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card; no route without a local footprint |
| Ping An Digital Bank (International) — formerly PAO Bank | Lufax Holding (Ping An group) | SME banking, B2B APIs, SWIFT in and out | takes HK companies with non-HKID owners as a "special type of company" — extra opening fee from HK$10,000 |
| Fusion Bank | Tencent + ICBC (Asia) + HKEX and others | retail + business accounts; WeChat Pay HK ecosystem | business — HK sole proprietorship, partnership or single-layer company; every connected party holds HKID and a personal Fusion account |
| EleBank — formerly Airstar | Futu Holdings (controlling since September 2025); Xiaomi a minority holder | retail deposits, HK stock trading, SME lending | HKID onboarding |
What the licence actually says
The rules sit in the HKMA's Guideline on Authorization of Digital Banks — first issued for virtual banks in 2000, rewritten in 2018, revised on 25 October 2024 when the name changed. A digital bank is "a bank which delivers banking services exclusively or primarily through the internet or other forms of electronic channels". Three provisions matter to a customer. Digital banks "should not impose any minimum account balance requirement or low-balance fees" — the reason none of the eight charges a monthly fee on a personal account. Each must keep a physical principal place of business in Hong Kong and, under the 2024 text, may open local branches under section 44 of the Banking Ordinance, where the 2018 version had defined them as banks operating "instead of physical branches". And each had to file an exit plan before authorisation — how depositors would be repaid if the model failed.
The reset came in one season: the review and the renaming consultation on 6 August 2024, the DPS limit of HK$800,000 on 1 October, the consultation conclusions on 14 October, the revised Guideline on 25 October, and from 1 January 2025 a mandatory DPS membership sign on every e-banking platform — which for a bank without branches means the app.
Six years in numbers
The HKMA review is the last regulator-level scorecard: 2.2 million depositors at end-2023, an 8.8% share of all retail-bank depositors but only about 0.3% of deposits, loans and assets; HK$37.5 billion in deposits, HK$19.5 billion in loans, operating income up seven-fold from FY2021 to FY2023, and no bank yet profitable. The audited 2025 statements filed with the HKMA register show how far the picture has moved.
| Bank | Deposits, end-2025 | Loans, end-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| ZA Bank | HK$22.2 bn | HK$5.6 bn |
| Mox | HK$21.0 bn | HK$14.5 bn gross |
| Fusion | HK$14.7 bn | HK$3.1 bn |
| Ping An Digital Bank (International) | HK$10.5 bn | HK$3.6 bn |
| Ant Bank | HK$9.2 bn | HK$2.0 bn |
| WeLab Bank | HK$8.1 bn | HK$5.9 bn gross |
| EleBank (Airstar) | HK$3.8 bn | HK$2.2 bn |
| livi bank | HK$3.5 bn | HK$2.9 bn |
| Bank | Result 2025 | Result 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| ZA Bank | +HK$17.3 m — first full-year profit | −HK$232.2 m |
| Mox | −HK$484.2 m | −HK$711.0 m |
| Fusion | −HK$195.6 m | −HK$275.3 m |
| Ping An Digital Bank (International) | −HK$274.4 m | −HK$338.7 m |
| Ant Bank | −HK$262.9 m | −HK$275.2 m |
| WeLab Bank | −HK$62.9 m before tax; profitable in H1 | −HK$249.1 m |
| EleBank (Airstar) | −HK$254.7 m | −HK$299.6 m |
| livi bank | +HK$20.8 m — first full-year profit | −HK$259.4 m |
Summed across the eight statements, deposits reached about HK$93 billion at end-2025 against HK$64 billion a year earlier and HK$37.5 billion at end-2023; the aggregate loss narrowed from about HK$2.6 billion to about HK$1.5 billion. The surge came with capital: Lufax put HK$700 million into Ping An Digital Bank in 2025, Ant International US$100 million into Ant Bank in April 2025, and Futu's HK$500 million subscription on 16 September 2025 made it Airstar's ultimate holding company.
Who has turned a profit
Profitability arrived in years five and six. ZA Bank got there first: a monthly profit in July 2024, an interim net profit of about HK$49 million for the first half of 2025 alongside one million users, and a 2025 net profit of HK$17.3 million. livi followed with HK$20.8 million in its fifth-anniversary year, on operating income up 49% and expenses down 28%. WeLab Bank was profitable in the first half of 2025, then spent the second half on growth and closed the year with record revenue of HK$942 million and a pre-tax loss of HK$62.9 million. Mox still carried the largest 2025 loss, HK$484 million, but reported its first break-even quarter in the first quarter of 2026 with around 750,000 customers and a loan book up 123%. Fusion, Ant, Ping An Digital Bank and EleBank remain loss-making, though every one of the eight narrowed its loss or moved into profit in 2025.
Niches: retail, China, SME
Retail and investments. ZA Bank is the largest by deposits, the first with an SFC Type 1 licence (stocks and ETFs in the app) and the first Hong Kong bank to open retail crypto trading (BTC and ETH via HashKey, since November 2024). Mox plays premium retail: a numberless card, a multi-currency wallet, Mox Invest, and from 28 January 2026 regulated BTC and ETH trading in the banking app supported by HashKey Exchange. WeLab is the only one fully owned by a homegrown fintech group: GoSave deposits, the GoWealth robo-advisor, a multi-currency debit card since December 2025, and a US$220 million Series D closed on 15 January 2026. EleBank, under Futu, has repositioned around "invest wisely" — HK stock trading inside the banking app.
The China corridor. Fusion runs on Tencent and ICBC (Asia) rails and was the first to plug in WeChat Pay HK; Ant Bank builds the banking layer next to AlipayHK — from launch, wallet users could open an account through a mini-app inside AlipayHK; livi plays on transfers to the mainland and accepts a mainland resident ID card for business-account users.
SME. Ping An Digital Bank (International) — PAOBank until March 2026, Ping An OneConnect Bank before 2024, owned by Lufax since 2024 — is the one bank of the eight built around SMEs rather than retail: B2B APIs, accounting connectors, inward and outward SWIFT. Under its published SME schedule the management fee is waived and there is no minimum balance, but opening costs HK$2,000 through the app or offline, and a "special type of company" pays an additional fee from HK$10,000 per category: three or more ownership layers, beneficial owners without HKID, or under a year of operating history. ZA Bank takes Hong Kong startups as their first account — HK$0 opening fee, a HK$1,500 twelve-month service prepayment, express opening in about one working day; Fusion opens business accounts for the WeChat merchant profile with FPS, CHATS and telegraphic transfers; livi Business supports HKD and CNY over FPS and USD over local RTGS, with no overseas transfer in the product description — a company with international flows needs a second bank.
Non-resident access: what each bank publishes
A retail account without HKID is unavailable at all eight. ZA Bank requires a smart HKID issued on or after 26 November 2018 (permanent or non-permanent), a Hong Kong mobile number and a Hong Kong residential address; its only visitor route is for holders of a PRC resident identity card who are physically in Hong Kong. Mox requires HKID plus a Hong Kong residential and mailing address. Ant Bank opened on the Permanent Identity Card. The rest onboard on HKID as well.
The corporate route exists only for a Hong Kong company whose people are themselves local: ZA Business express opening is limited to single-layer entities with at most four related parties, all holding HKID and all Hong Kong tax residents; Fusion Business requires every connected party to hold HKID and a personal Fusion account; livi Business requires all users to hold HKID or a mainland ID card. Ping An Digital Bank is the one that names a price for foreign ownership rather than refusing it. Every bank additionally runs its own sanctions and tax-residency screening — ZA Bank states it cannot open accounts for customers with tax residency, place of birth or nationality in "certain countries", without listing them.
Who it suits
A resident with HKID — as everyday retail: ZA and Mox for the interface, investments and crypto, WeLab for savings and loans, EleBank for stock trading. A Hong Kong operating company owned by HKID holders — as a fast first account: ZA for a general profile, Ping An Digital Bank (International) for SMEs settling with mainland China, Fusion for WeChat Pay merchants, livi for a local-only HKD/CNY profile.
It does not suit a non-resident without a local footprint, a foreign-owned Hong Kong company expecting a no-fee onboarding, large international SWIFT flows or private banking needs — that is traditional banks' territory. The full map of the jurisdiction is in the Hong Kong hub; the routes that lead to an HKID are in the Hong Kong residency guide; the global context is in the neobanks overview.
Q/A
How many digital banks are there in Hong Kong?
Eight, all licensed in 2019 and launched in 2020: ZA, Mox, WeLab, livi, Fusion, Ant, Ping An Digital Bank (International) — the former PAOBank — and EleBank, formerly Airstar. The HKMA's August 2024 review called the number optimal and saw no justification for new licences; on 25 October 2024 the category was renamed "digital banks", with licences and supervision unchanged.
Can a non-resident open an account with a Hong Kong digital bank?
Retail — no: every bank onboards on HKID, and Mox and ZA also require a Hong Kong residential address; ZA's only visitor route is for PRC resident-ID holders present in Hong Kong. Corporate — only a Hong Kong company whose owners and directors hold HKID (ZA also requires Hong Kong tax residency); Ping An Digital Bank takes non-HKID owners as a "special type of company" with an extra fee from HK$10,000.
Are deposits in digital banks insured?
Yes, on par with traditional banks: the Deposit Protection Scheme covers up to HK$800,000 per depositor per bank, the limit in force since 1 October 2024. All eight hold a full HKMA licence and are scheme members.
Which digital banks are profitable?
Two posted a full-year profit for 2025: ZA Bank (HK$17.3 million) and livi (HK$20.8 million). WeLab Bank was profitable in the first half of 2025 but closed the year with a HK$62.9 million pre-tax loss after investing in growth; Mox lost HK$484 million in 2025 and then reported its first break-even quarter in the first quarter of 2026. Fusion, Ant, Ping An Digital Bank and EleBank lost between HK$196 million and HK$274 million each in 2025 — all narrower than in 2024.
Which Hong Kong digital bank is the largest?
ZA Bank by deposits: HK$22.2 billion at end-2025, over a million users and the sector's first full-year profit. Mox is close behind at HK$21.0 billion with around 750,000 customers and the largest loan book, HK$14.5 billion gross. Together the eight held about HK$93 billion at end-2025.
Do digital banks charge account fees?
Personal accounts carry no monthly fee and no minimum balance — the HKMA Guideline says digital banks should not impose minimum-balance requirements or low-balance fees. Business accounts are priced: Ping An Digital Bank charges HK$2,000 to open and from HK$10,000 extra for a "special type of company"; ZA Business waives the opening fee but takes a HK$1,500 twelve-month service prepayment.