“After establishing a strong customer base and basic deposit products, the next step forward is naturally extending our services into wealth-management services,” said Mox CEO Barbaros Uygun, adding that the bank will not do so in traditional ways.
“We want to innovate in this area to make it easier and give more control to the customer to manage their investment portfolio in a more transparent way.”
Mox will sell insurance products on behalf of partners next year and will also offer more fund products to customers, he said.
The lender has also applied for a license from the market regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, to offer investment advisory services. Upon getting approval, it will offer an online advisory tool for all customer segments and will evaluate their risk appetite and recommend how they can invest their money.
“The solution can offer portfolio-management advice and automated balancing services, which is somewhat like traditional private-banking services,” he said.
Mox’s expansion in wealth management comes as a bull run is underway. The benchmark Hang Seng Index jumped 13 percent last week in its biggest week in 26 years, reaching 20,632.30, the highest level since April 2023.
The rally came after the US Federal Reserve started easing interest rates on September 18. More importantly, Beijing last week announced a wide range of stimulus measures to boost the market and economy.
US money manager Invesco predicted the market can gain another 20 percent from the current level – even after the Hang Seng Index technically entered a bull market with a rally of more than 20 percent from an August low.
“When the interest rate gets lower, it is natural for our customers to be eye-on investment products other than bank deposits,” Uygun said.
Mox, co-owned by Standard Chartered, turned four years old on Monday. It is one of the eight branchless banks licensed to begin operations in 2020 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in an effort to promote fintech in the city.
Being born in the era of Covid-19 proved helpful for the virtual banks, because the pandemic forced people to work from home, and many bank branches closed.
“Covid helped shorten the timing for people to accept digital banking,” Uygun said. “Without the pandemic, it may take many years for people to shift to online banking.”
Mox has secured 620,000 customers, representing 10 per cent of Hong Kong’s adult population, making it the third-largest virtual lender. ZA Bank has 800,000 customers, and WeLab Bank has 650,000, according to the lenders’ data.
Deposits with Mox grew 50 percent year on year in the first six months to HK$14.5 billion, the bank’s data showed
“The average age of Mox customers is 35, with most in their 30s and 40s,” Uygun said. “They are young, tech-savvy, and have started to have some money to invest. We want to provide a tool to allow these emerging affluent people to manage their portfolios.”
The lender also plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services for its customers next year, in addition to its current services for trading stocks in Hong Kong and the US, as well as cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
“We found many young customers are interested in trading virtual assets,” Uygun said.
