HSBC has launched a digital wallet in Hong Kong that targets startups and other small businesses; the bank said they have received thousands of applications since quietly launching in April; the move is seen as a way for the firm to fend of increasing competition from Tencent and Alibaba; both tech giants have recently set up digital banks in Hong Kong as the market has become a hub of digital banking activity; “We never really thought of it as a client acquisition tool in the small and medium-sized businesses space but a number of companies have come along that we don’t currently bank with,” Stuart Tait, Regional Head of Commercial Banking for HSBC in Asia Pacific, said to the FT as he discussed the potential of the e-wallet. Source.
