Hong Kong Virtual Bank With 6.8% Deposits Cools Price War Talk

  • ZA Bank gets response from 20,000 people in deposit round
  • Hong Kong has approved eight ventures to open digital banks
A man uses a mobile phone on the platform at a subway station.Photographer: Seong Joon Cho
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The first of Hong Kong’s new generation of virtual banks has no plans to start a broader price war even as customers flocked to its introductory deposit rate of almost 7%.

ZA Bank Ltd., one of eight firms preparing to start digital-only banks in Hong Kong, saw interest from almost 20,000 people as it kicked off offering deposit rates 4 percentage points higher than established firms such as HSBC Holdings Plc. It will accept about 2,000 people as initial customers, with 100 getting the highest three-month rate as a one-time deal. Ahead, it will overall pay rates in line with the market.