Xiaomi’s Airstar Bank Launches Full Operation of Virtual Banking Services in Hong Kong

Airstar Bank announced on Thursday the official launch of its virtual banking services that encompass savings accounts, time deposits and personal loan products.

According to the bank’s statement, customers can get an interest rate as high as 3.6% per annum (p.a) for the first 20,000 Hong Kong dollars (HKD) placed in the savings account, which is 3,600 times higher compared to the general interest rates of traditional banks. The bank also offers personal loan with a preferential annualized percentage rate as low as 2.99%, which is calculated on a daily basis.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi-owned AirStar Bank Launches Pilot Trial of Virtual Banking Service in Hong Kong

Being one of seven vir­tual banks to ob­tain a li­cense from the Hong Kong Mon­e­tary Au­thor­ity (HKMA) in May of 2019, Airstar Bank Limited, a joint venture virtual bank between Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi and AMTD Group, announced the launch of a pilot trial at the end of March.

“Our bank’s pilot scheme launched this March received positive feedback from customers,” the company said in the statement on Thursday. “Whereby Airstar Bank was able to roll out cutting-edge banking solutions with a minimum-effort- design approach that allows customers to set up accounts in as fast as five minutes.”

Airstar Bank’s mobile app also enables real time money transfer in HKD and CNY using the Faster Payment System (FPS) and interbank transfer of HKD, USD and CNY through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) remittance systems.