Bank of China (Hong Kong) adopts new mobile application launched by HK govt

Bank of China (Hong Kong) will be adopting "iAM Smart", a mobile application launched by the Hong Kong SAR Government, for digital identification in mobile account opening, making it one of the first local bank to use "iAM Smart" to facilitate remote account opening via mobile banking.

With the help of "iAM Smart", customers can choose to fill in the mobile account opening form automatically with personal information stored in "e-ME" of the mobile app, saving the time of inputting data manually and performing facial recognition.

Wendy Kwan, chief systems manager (Digital Identity) of the office of the Government Chief Information Officer, said, "The Government launched 'iAM Smart' in December 2020, the one-stop personalised digital services platform, which enables the public to log in and use various online services with their single digital identity.”

As of the end of September 2021, there were over 150 online services from government and public and private organisations using 'iAM Smart', Kwan said. Up to now, over 940,000 people have registered 'iAM Smart'.

Winnie Cheung, deputy general manager, Personal Digital Banking Products Department of BOCHK, said, "The 'iAM Smart' platform works seamlessly on our mobile banking platform to provide identity authentication for account opening. We have seen growing demand for mobile banking service from our customers, with the total number of accounts opened via mobile banking in the first half of this year increased by nearly 70% YoY and the total number of active personal mobile banking users increased by around 30%.”

She added that bank is looking to extend 'iAM Smart' to other banking services so as to provide more efficient and smarter banking experience to our customers. In addition, the Bank has been expediting the intelligent development of its branches.

A recent study by Visa found that in Hong Kong, nearly four out of 10 consumers in Hong Kong used more mobile banking services from their primary banks than the pre-COVID period. The same level of growth is expected one year from now on.

Mobile banking was the most frequented banking method in Hong Kong as 82% used it several times a month. 

Moreover, 82% of Hong Kong consumers have mobile banking apps installed on their phones (77% in 2020), citing that they can save some time by not travelling to the bank (68%), access mobile or online banking (65%), skip the queue at the bank (64%).

Meanwhile, traditional banks continue to have the upper hand mainly due to security concerns. Around 80% of respondents said they would use traditional banks as their main bank; while 59% feel that their money was safe in the traditional banks and 56% find traditional banks reliable for transacting.