Airstar one of Hong Kong’s new virtual banks, today announced the launch of a pilot trial which is conducted within the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox (“FSS”) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”).

The pilot trial will offer virtual banking services to selected customers in Hong Kong, a precursor to Airstar’s full launch of its banking services to the general public. At the same time, Airstar’s official website has been launched which will provide the public with Airstar’s latest product and service information.

During the pilot trial, Airstar will on-board around 2,000 customers from friends and families of the staff of Airstar, Xiaomi Hong Kong and AMTD Group to gather practical user requirements and feedback in order to jointly to design its banking service

In terms of deposits, Airstar will provide two products during the pilot trial. They offer tiered-pricing savings deposits and customers will enjoy a deposit rate of up to 1% per annum for HKD saving deposits between HKD 500,000 and HKD1,000,000. Customers who place time deposits have the flexibility to customize the time deposit maturity dates, such as a 8-day, 19-day or 27-day time deposit. Customers can even terminate the time deposit anytime prior to maturity without any penalty or surcharge.

Airstar will also provide unsecured lending products for customers at transparent pricing with interest accrual on a daily basis. Customers can repay anytime without any prepayment fee. On the other hand, we shall enhance our product designs and services continuously based on the customer’s feedback to be gathered during the pilot trial.

Airstar’s spokesperson said,

“Airstar strives to embrace innovation and financial inclusion, and promotes ‘Financial Innovation for Everyone’. We truly believe Airstar will be a valuable contributor to the banking industry in Hong Kong, and become ‘Everyone’s Bank’.”