Throughout mid-2019 there were a number of announcements from Asia-Pacific banking regulators that they would be granting licences to virtual banks. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission issued their first virtual banking licences, and Malaysia has announced plans to follow suit. However, they were not the first movers in the region: China, Japan and Australia have all previously awarded licences to banks with wholly virtual operations.
Asia’s move towards virtual banking is not surprising. The digitisation of finance in the region has moved at a pace not seen in other parts of the world. Chinese consumers have long been accustomed to completing transactions with just their mobile phones, and other countries are keen to follow this lead.
