WeLab Bank has facilitated the disbursement of HK$61.56 million in subsidies through the H.S. Chau Foundation’s “Dear Girlfriends” programme, utilising digital banking solutions for social initiatives.

The initiative supported 18,656 full-time female students from 354 government and subsidised secondary schools preparing for the 2025 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) examinations.

Leveraging its digital settlement system, including the Faster Payment System (FPS) and stored-value facilities such as e-wallets, WeLab Bank streamlined the disbursement process.

This approach significantly reduced administrative costs, with expenses per beneficiary dropping by approximately 90% compared to previous manual methods.

Students registered and redeemed their subsidies by scanning unique QR codes, with nearly 60% doing so in the evening.

Over 60% claimed their subsidies within 48 hours of receiving the QR codes.

A survey of 3,000 beneficiaries showed that 94% recognised the subsidy’s positive impact on their academic pursuits, and 95% expressed satisfaction with the digital process.

Tat Lee, Chief Executive of WeLab Bank, said,

“The successful implementation of this seamless and efficient city-wide subsidy distribution experience was achieved within a remarkably short period through the integration of the Faster Payment System (FPS), introduced by Hong Kong Monetary Authority, as the programme’s core payment infrastructure.

We look forward to collaborating with more organisations and institutions to foster cross-sector synergies, and fulfil our corporate social responsibility vision, creating lasting value and meaningful impact for the community.”

The programme’s dedicated website, used to facilitate the process, will remain operational until 31 December 2024, when the redemption process is complete.

WeLab Bank has expressed interest in supporting similar initiatives in the future.

Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik