Concept
ZA Bank is a Hong Kong digital bank, the term the HKMA adopted in late 2024 for what used to be called virtual banks. It has held a banking licence under the Banking Ordinance since the HKMA granted it on 27 March 2019, and it began full operations in March 2020 as the first of the city's eight digital banks to go live. Control sits with ZA Global, the digital-finance arm of the ZhongAn group; ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance and Z Fin are its largest shareholders, with AIA Group also on the register. By its mid-2025 results ZA led all eight digital banks on deposits, with customer deposits above HK$21.1 billion, and it was the first of them to pass one million customers. HKD deposits sit under the Hong Kong Deposit Protection Scheme up to HK$800,000 per depositor, a limit raised from HK$500,000 on 1 October 2024.
Two things set ZA apart from its peers. It was the first digital bank in Hong Kong to hold an SFC Type 1 licence (dealing in securities), obtained in 2022, so retail clients can buy stocks, ETFs and funds inside the same app that holds their deposits. And in November 2024 it became the first bank in Asia to offer crypto trading straight to retail users, letting them buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether in HKD and USD through a tie-up with the licensed exchange HashKey. Opening a standard account takes one to three business days and runs entirely in the mobile app.
Use Cases
First corporate account for a Hong Kong company. Startup or small business with a straightforward beneficiary who needs a quick account for initial operations. ZA accepts applications online, without a branch visit, in 1–3 business days with a clean profile.
Short-term HKD deposits. ZA holds the largest deposit base among the eight digital banks, above HK$21.1 billion by mid-2025 against roughly HK$34 billion for the whole sector at the end of 2024, and it uses promotional time-deposit rates as its main tool for pulling in funds. Those rates change often, so the number shown in the app at sign-up is the one that applies.
Crypto inside the banking perimeter. Through its SFC licensing and the HashKey tie-up, ZA lets retail users trade Bitcoin and Ether in HKD and USD, with the trades settling against the same account and showing up on ordinary bank statements. For a private client this removes the usual split between a bank and a separate exchange app and keeps the activity inside a regulated, HKMA-supervised institution.
Securities from the retail app. As the first Hong Kong digital bank to hold an SFC Type 1 licence, ZA lets retail clients buy stocks, ETFs and funds through the main app, with no separate brokerage account.
Retail products for the staff of a Hong Kong company: payroll through FPS, the custom-number ZA Visa debit card that ZA introduced as a first for the city, and a fully mobile interface with no branches.
Background
ZA grew out of a 2018 joint venture called ZhongAn Virtual Finance, set up by ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance and Z Fin; China CITIC Bank International was an early partner but pulled out before the licence came through. The HKMA granted virtual banking licences to its first batch of applicants on 27 March 2019, and the renamed ZA Bank ran a sandbox pilot from December 2019 before opening to the public in March 2020, the first of the new banks to go live.
Scale came quickly. By mid-2023 ZA was already the largest of the group by deposits, loans and users, with more than 700,000 customers. Its mid-2025 figures showed the model maturing: a first-ever half-year profit of about HK$49 million, revenue up 82% on the year, deposits above HK$21.1 billion, total assets near HK$24.65 billion, and assets under management from investing customers up more than 125%. It had earlier been the first of Hong Kong's digital banks to reach monthly profitability.
Regulation and licences
Supervision is ordinary HKMA banking oversight. The main change in 2024 was the name. After a public consultation the regulator dropped "virtual bank" in favour of "digital bank" and revised its authorization guideline on 25 October 2024. The Chinese wording for "virtual" could be read as "fictional", and the HKMA wanted a label that matched how these banks actually work and lined up with usage elsewhere.
On top of the banking licence ZA has layered regulated investment activity. The SFC Type 1 licence for dealing in securities arrived in 2022, and in late 2024 the bank moved into virtual assets: SFC sign-off in September, then a retail launch on 25 November 2024 that made it the first bank in Asia to let ordinary customers trade Bitcoin and Ether, again through HashKey. ZA also banks most of Hong Kong's licensed crypto exchanges and more than 300 Web3 companies, and it has piloted custody of stablecoin reserve assets under the HKMA sandbox. The surrounding regime firmed up in parallel: the Stablecoins Ordinance has applied since 1 August 2025, so issuing a fiat-referenced stablecoin now needs an HKMA licence and only licensed issuers may offer such coins to retail. The HKMA granted the first of those licences on 10 April 2026, among them to Anchorpoint Financial, the joint venture backed by Standard Chartered — which is what will decide which stablecoins eventually reach retail apps like ZA's.
How ZA compares
Among the eight digital banks ZA leads on deposits, customers and profitability; by mid-2025 Mox had passed 600,000 customers and WeLab around 500,000, both behind ZA's million. What sets ZA apart is the investment and crypto stack rather than size alone, since the others compete mainly on deposit rates, cards and payments. For mainland China transfers, Airstar and livi stay the more natural pick given their parentage.
Takeaway
ZA has gone from first mover among Hong Kong's new banks to the first that actually makes money, and it got there by widening what a deposit app can hold: cash, funds, stocks and now regulated crypto. For a Hong Kong company or an HK-resident private client whose needs sit inside the local market, that mix is hard to assemble elsewhere without running several providers at once.
Q/A
Who can open a personal ZA Bank account through the app?
For its resident route, the bank lists age 18 or above, a new smart HKID, a Hong Kong mobile number and a Hong Kong residential address. A separate visitor route is available to eligible PRC identity-card holders who are physically in Hong Kong and meet the phone, bank-card and entry-record requirements; approval is not guaranteed.
Are the eligibility rules the same for personal and business accounts?
No. The online business route is for a Hong Kong-registered and operating company with a simple single-layer structure, Hong Kong-only tax residence, and HKID-holding directors and shareholders, subject to limits on connected persons. ZA may move an application to an offline review even when the stated online criteria are met.
Are all cash and assets in the app protected up to HK$800,000?
No. The DPS covers a depositor’s aggregate eligible deposits with one bank up to HK$800,000, not each account separately. Stocks, funds, cryptoassets, structured deposits and other non-deposit products are outside DPS protection, so their market, custody and execution risks must be assessed separately.
Can a visitor account use investments and cryptocurrency services?
An eligible PRC identity-card visitor may apply for an investment account while physically in Hong Kong, but ZA currently excludes visitors from its cryptocurrency service. Crypto access requires a valid savings account, HKID, Hong Kong residence and address proof, risk profiling, a knowledge assessment, and physical presence in Hong Kong.
Does ZA’s banking status prevent cryptocurrency losses?
No. ZA’s status as a licensed bank and its regulated execution arrangement do not remove volatility, execution risk or the possibility of losing the investment. The cryptocurrency service sits in a separate regulatory perimeter using licensed infrastructure, while the cryptoassets themselves are not bank deposits and are not covered by the DPS.