Hong Kong’s ZA Bank Now a Settlement Bank for Digital Assets

Hong Kong’s largest virtual bank, ZA Bank has made an impressive foray into the crypto space by accommodating crypto clients.

According to a Bloomberg report, the Virtual bank is now offering conversions between digital assets and fiat currency through crypto exchange platforms. This is in addition to providing account services to the city’s developing crypto sector.

The report highlighted that ZA Bank will act as an intermediary between exchanges and crypto investors. Markedly, the bank will aid withdrawals for customers in Hong Kong, China, and US dollars after they have deposited digital assets in exchanges.

Interestingly, the business model is already in place with HashKey and OSL, the only two licensed crypto exchanges in Hong Kong. The CEO of ZA Bank, Ronald Lu hinted in an interview that the bank will not hesitate to provide the same services to other exchanges once they are registered.

Remarkably, the bank’s foray into the digital world looks to be an effort to repair Hong Kong’s image as a crypto hub. Recall that the city was recently displaced by London from its position as the most crypto-ready city.

Notably, ZA Bank provides a variety of banking services, such as savings accounts, time deposits, personal loans, and credit cards, all of which are accessible via its mobile app. The bank launched in March 2020 has quickly gained popularity in Hong Kong, attracting over 300,000 customers in its first year of operation.

ZA Bank’s Strategy to Comply with Regulators

Following the failure of crypto-friendly banks Silicon Valley, Silvergate, and Signature, regulators have increased their pressure on banks to implement stringent anti-money laundering and know-your-customer policies.

Based on this, Devon Sin, alternate CEO of ZA Bank has said the bank intends to only work with regulated exchanges and performs AML inspection using the standard checklists in order to meet regulatory standards. For the past few months of work, no AML issues have come up, says Sin.

Additionally, Lu stated that the bank will not provide digital services to clients in mainland China due to current restrictions.