HSBC Holdings Plc is preparing to launch an international payments app aimed at challenging the dominance of fintech companies like Revolut and Wise Plc, which have attracted tens of millions of retail customers by offering cheap foreign currency exchanges.
Zing App
The Zing app will initially be offered in the UK, but Europe’s largest bank plans to expand the service to other locations in the coming months as it seeks to capture a share of the rapidly growing market serving wealthy consumers.
Global Expansion
The app will be available on the Apple Inc. App Store and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Play platform within days and will be accessible to non-HSBC customers as the bank prepares to “attack the global retail payments market,” according to Nuno Matos, CEO of the bank’s global wealth and personal banking division. Matos said it would take about three minutes for a new user to register.
Global Ambition
Matos said in an interview: “We have a global ambition for the Zing app. We want to establish ourselves as a global platform for international payments, which aligns perfectly with HSBC’s international payments strategy, and you should see them soon in Asia, the Middle East, and EU markets.”
Competing with Startups
This move demonstrates how some global financial giants are seeking to compete with a range of startups that have rapidly expanded over the past decade by offering services ranging from cross-border payments to savings accounts and investment products on mobile devices.
Success of Fintech Companies
Shares of Wise fell by as much as 7.6 percent on Tuesday, marking its largest daily drop since April. The shares, which were listed in 2021, have risen by over 50 percent in the past year. Meanwhile, Revolut, which has over 26 million users, expects its revenue to rise by nearly 70 percent to $2 billion in 2023.
Global Money Product
HSBC already has a product called Global Money that offers fee-free currency service to existing customers. Since its launch in 2020, the service has attracted hundreds of thousands of customers and processed transactions worth approximately $11 billion in 2022.
Attracting Users
Matos expects Zing to attract users who may consider doing more banking with HSBC as part of efforts that began last year to become the leading financial institution for mobile international customers.
Matos said: “It’s a bold move for us. It means that HSBC is playing outside of its traditional client base, and attacking, if you like, by tapping into a large and growing demographic that resembles us and is here for us.”
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