ZA Bank CEO Calvin Ng joined the opening day of Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025, speaking at a thematic forum hosted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on “HK Open Banking Behind the Scenes: How IADS Transforms the Banking Industry by Innovation and Collaboration.”

Joined by leaders from the banking and technology sectors, Ng discussed how ZA Bank is leveraging Interbank Account Data Sharing (IADS) to deliver practical, user-focused applications and emphasised the importance of industry collaboration in advancing open banking.

Guided by its vision of being “Your Future Bank for Now,” ZA Bank continues to apply technology to make banking simpler and more intuitive.

“The true value of IADS lies not just in data sharing, but in how that data is transformed into features that make customers’ daily lives easier,”

Ng said.

The bank has introduced an IADS-enabled instant loan approval feature that allows users to authorise data sharing from other banks for automatic credit assessment, removing the need for document uploads.

ZA Bank also plans to extend IADS applications to areas such as one-click eDDA setup for automatic loan repayments, repayment scheduling based on salary cycles, and personalised financial insights powered by real-time data.

Ng noted that open banking represents more than a technological development, it marks a shift in user experience.

“Technology should simplify life, not complicate it. At ZA Bank, we aim to make banking more intuitive and human. The future of finance lies in proactive, data-driven services that anticipate users’ needs, not just respond to them,”

he said.

ZA Bank maintains that collaboration across the fintech ecosystem is essential to drive innovation and develop more personalised and flexible solutions.

Featured image credit: ZA Bank