<h3 id="pioneer-of-the-industry">Pioneer of the Industry</h3>
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Today marks ZA Bank&rsquo;s first day as Hong Kong&rsquo;s first fully-operational virtual bank. It has been a year of non-stop work since obtaining our license from the HKMA in March 2019 and our pilot trial in December 2019.
Building a bank from scratch in such a short period of time is no easy task. But the passion and grit of the ZA team made the impossible now a reality, despite Covid-19 and home office arrangements recently.
With the support of and feedback from our ZA Fam, we precisely identified the pain points in the industry and have now become a bank that truly solves the needs of our users.
<h3 id="build-together">Build together</h3>
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We have all waited hours and hours on end to open an account at traditional banks. Wait no more. &nbsp;ZA customers can open their virtual bank account in five minutes, with just a phone number and an HKID card, all in the comfort of your own home.
In addition, most people feel that their savings interest rates are far too low. Many are also discouraged by the minimum deposit requirements and time commitment of banking products with higher returns. Therefore, we are pleased to roll out a brand new savings deposit product. <a href="https://bank.za.group/deposit">ZA Savings Go</a> enables you to simultaneously grow your wealth, in this conventionally ultra-low interest rate environment, and enjoy liquidity, as you are free to make withdrawals anytime to pay for bills or deal with any financial emergency. With no minimum balance requirement, you can enjoy an annual savings deposit rate of 1%[1], 1000 times above the market rate[2].
Finally, your calls for an instant loan offer are heard. To all our users, we announce our <a href="https://bank.za.group/loan">30-minute pledge</a> for our personal loan service. This is truly an unprecedented move in Hong Kong. From submitting the complete set of information and documents to receiving the application results, should any applicant have to wait for more than 30 minutes, ZA Bank will provide a cash rebate of HKD 10 per every minute of overtime[3], with an upper limit of HKD 500, to ensure our loans are &ldquo;instant&rdquo;.
<h3 id="be-different-together">Be different, together</h3>
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Today marks the beginning of a new era. For you. For us. For the whole industry.
We will continue to treasure your feedback and commit to our community-driven approach to make banking accessible to everyone through technology.
Thank you once again for all of your steadfast support. I promise to walk with you all hand-in-hand to create a better virtual bank for a better future.

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[1] The interest rate is effective on 24 Mar 2020. Please check out the latest rates <a href="htttps://bank.za.group/deposit">here</a>. Terms and Conditions apply.
[2] Based on the ZA Savings Go rate (1% p.a.) and the savings rate of most retail banks for HKD100k on 24 Mar 2020 (0.001%). Promotional offers excluded. If ZA Savings Go rate or the market rate changes, the comparison result will be different.
[3] Service hours between 9:30 am to 1 am, Monday to Sunday. Terms and Conditions apply.

[ZA Bank] From 0 to 1, Hong Kong’s first virtual bank is finally here.

From 0 to 1, Hong Kong’s first virtual bank is finally here. #ZA Bank

The World Bank predicts in its &ldquo;World Economic Outlook&rdquo;1 predicts a continued slowdown in global economic growth. Want to boost your interest income? Here are 3 easy and practical money-saving habits that your wallet will thank you for later!
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1. Separate spending and savings accounts
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Create two separate bank accounts: a savings account and a day-to-day expenses account. You can set up an automatic transfer from your payroll account to your savings account every month. A fixed amount, such as 10% of your income, is a good amount to consider. To ensure you don't dip into your savings, it&rsquo;s a good idea to keep the savings account card at home.
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By automating the process, you no longer have to worry about manually setting aside a fixed amount of money or forgetting to save! This will help you stay on track with your savings. 
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➡️ Create your Savings Pot, somewhere to save, not spend.
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2. Build passive income
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Passive income is revenue generated with little or no active participation. As the saying goes, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no such thing as a free lunch.&rdquo; Passive income is generated by spending time and capital on different assets to produce returns. Among several options in the market, time deposit stands out as a lower-risk option that requires less capital and is less affected by the macroeconomic environment or market performance. It also allows you to get an estimated interest income. 
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➡️ Create your Savings Pot and complete four monthly challenges to get up to a 4% p.a. savings rate with flexibility and no minimum deposit requirement.
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3. Set feasible and specific savings goals
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Goal-Free Living author Stephen Shapiro pointed out that only 8% of people are able to achieve their set goals for the new year2. This means that over 90% of people fail to accomplish theirs. The reason for this is that most goals are not accompanied by specific plans, action steps, and vision blueprints!
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To increase your chances of achieving your goals, think of saving money as if you&rsquo;re playing a video game! Instead of directly challenging the boss level, focus on completing each level to build a sense of accomplishment. This method will help you become more motivated to continue pushing yourself. To begin with, when setting goals to save money, start by taking small and achievable steps. One way is to reduce the number of times you eat out each week. Small, consistent changes can lead to significant financial progress.
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In addition, you can visualise the savings goals you want to achieve. An experiment by behavioural economics professors Dilip Soman and Amar Cheema3 showed that people who posted a photo of their target on their savings envelope saved up to 20% more than those who did not!
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➡️ Personalise your Savings Pot and stay motivated!
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Let&rsquo;s say you have a savings goal of booking a flight to see the camels in North Africa. You can post a picture of camels in the Sahara Desert at sunset on your savings pot. This will help you visualise your goal instead of just looking at a bunch of numbers, making what seemed like a painful process more motivated and enjoyable to save money and filled with anticipation.
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As the Year of the Dragon begins, ZA Bank introduces Savings Pot, a tool to help you adopt the three habits mentioned above!
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What is Savings Pot?
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Savings Pot is your exclusive savings sub-account in ZA Bank, which is a simple way to put money aside and set it apart from your expenses. You can deposit or withdraw money instantly, no minimum deposit requirement and get up to a 4% savings rate.
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<div class="ipage_blog_static_html_content">⭐ Savings deposits in the sub-account are deposits qualified for protection by the Deposit Protection Scheme in Hong Kong.</div>
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How can I earn up to a 4% p.a. savings rate4?
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Create your Savings Pot now to enjoy +0.39% p.a.. Get +3.6% p.a. more by completing all four monthly challenges! With the 0.01% p.a. savings basic interest rate5, you can earn up to 4% p.a. in total6!
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<div class="ipage_blog_static_html_content">1️⃣ Add Money Challenge + 1.4% p.a.</div>
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Earn 1.4% p.a. by transferring HKD 20,000 cumulatively through Easy Deposit.
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<div class="ipage_blog_static_html_content">2️⃣ Spending Challenge +1.2% p.a.</div>
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Earn 1.2% p.a. by using your ZA Card to complete no less than HKD 3,000 of eligible transactions in total.
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<div class="ipage_blog_static_html_content">3️⃣ FX Challenge +0.5% p.a.</div>
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Earn 0.5% p.a. by exchanging currency in any currency with a total sell-out amount of HKD 20,000 (equiv.)
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<div class="ipage_blog_static_html_content">4️⃣ Payment Challenge +0.5% p.a.</div>
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Earn 0.5% p.a. by completing 2 QR code bill payments or credit card repayment transactions of no less than HKD 100 each.
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1. Source: <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO">World Economic Outlook. (2024, January 29). IMF.</a>
2. Source: <a href="http://books.google.ie/books?id=jzhg0gnMQokC&amp;pg=PT122&amp;dq=Goal-Free+Living&amp;hl=&amp;cd=2&amp;source=gbs_api">Shapiro, S. M. (2010, December 3). Goal-Free Living. John Wiley &amp; Sons.</a>
3. Source: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.45.6.665">Cheema, A., &amp; Soman, D. (2008, December). The Effect of Partitions on Controlling Consumption. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 665&ndash;675.</a>
4. Your Savings Pot interest rate includes the basic interest rate + reward rate.
5. The basic interest rate means an HKD savings basic interest rate of 0.01%. The basic interest rate will be adjusted from time to time, and the latest interest rate information can be found on the ZA Bank official website bank.za.group.
6. The reward interest rate applies to a Savings Pot balance of HKD 500,000 or below, which is valid from the day of completing the challenge to the last day of the month. View details in the <a href="https://bank.za.group/agreement/html/en_US/1001613">Terms and Conditions</a>.

3 small habits to save up easily

Building an innovative and customised banking experience for users has always been our goal. Even for something as simple as a transfer, we strive to get it done more conveniently and seamlessly. That&rsquo;s why we rolled out &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo;, our electronic Direct Debit Authorisation (&lsquo;eDDA&rsquo;) service built on the infrastructure of Faster Payment System, when we launched our business in March last year, so you can easily add money without the need for switching between banking apps. More, you can link another bank account in as quick as 30 seconds, then add money to ZA Bank in as fast as 15 seconds. This function has earned our users&rsquo; recognition and support, with over 30% of transfers made via &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo; currently.
User experience has always been our drive to keep moving forward and upward. We&rsquo;re happy to bear the associated costs so you can continue to enjoy the best transfer experience. Taking users&rsquo; habits and experience as well as our operating costs into account, we&rsquo;ll make the following changes to &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo;:
&middot; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Service will remain unchanged for the following banks. You can continue to add money from them for free, with a single transaction limit of HKD 1,000,000.
- STANDARD CHARTERED BANK (HONG KONG) LIMITED - CMB Wing Lung Bank Limited - DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. - Nanyang Commercial Bank, Limited -Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Ltd. -Chiyu Banking Corporation Limited -Chong Hing Bank Limited
&middot; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Starting from 1 March 2021, when you add money from The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Hang Seng Bank Ltd and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited via &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo;, the single transaction limit will be set at HKD 10,000.

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<td>Transaction amount of HKD10,000 or below</td>
<td>Free of charge</td>
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<td>Other transaction amounts</td>
<td>Make multiple transfers via &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo; or, Use the instant and free transfer function through Faster Payment System (FPS)</td>
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&middot; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Starting from 1 March 2021, we&rsquo;ll remove the following banks from &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo;. No worries, you can still add money from these banks via FPS. Remember that such change also applies to users who have previously linked their accounts with these banks via &lsquo;Easy Deposit&rsquo;.
- Dah Sing Bank, Limited - CHINA CITIC BANK INTERNATIONAL LIMITED - The Bank of East Asia, Limited - China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited - INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA (ASIA) LIMITED - Shanghai Commercial Bank Limited
If you have any questions about our service update, please call our 24/7 customer service hotline on 3665 3665, or log in to the ZA Bank App to contact us. Thank you for your support!
ZA Bank

【ZA Bank】Updates on ‘Easy Deposit’

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As a ZA Card user, did you know that you&rsquo;re protected against theft, fraud and deception from the digital world? ZA Bank has made sure to include multiple levels of protection that you can use to fight back against fraudsters! 💪
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Check out the three features below on protecting your payments when you pay with ZA Card!
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<h2>Customise the settings for your card-not-present transactions! 💡</h2>
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Take charge of your safety through preventative measures! 🛡️
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Go to the ZA Bank App's ZA Card page, tap the &ldquo;Set limit&rdquo; button, and adjust your transaction limits on the &ldquo;Spending limit&rdquo; page! You can also turn off the function for card-not-present (&ldquo;CNP&rdquo;) transactions whenever you don&rsquo;t need to shop online.&nbsp; 🛍️ So from now on, whether you decide to buy books, electronics, or groceries online, you&rsquo;ll always be in control of your spending!&nbsp;
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<h2>ZA Verify &ndash; a security feature that looks out for your safety! 🕵️</h2>
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Stop for a moment! 🙊 Are you sure you want your transaction to go ahead?
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ZA Verify is a security feature from ZA Bank that protects you from suspicious transactions. If you want to proceed with a transaction, go to the ZA Bank App, approve the transaction, and then initiate it after the approval. However, if you don&rsquo;t approve, decline it, and your transaction will be protected! 😁
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<h2>Digital wallet first-time verification📱</h2>
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Are you linking your ZA Card with a digital wallet for the first time? We&rsquo;ve got you covered too! Linking up your ZA Card with digital wallets for the first time, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, will trigger a notification that asks for verification via the ZA Bank App. ZA Verify will be triggered instead when you try to pay via a digital wallet without going through this step.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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We are committed more than ever to creating a secure and convenient experience for our users, especially when it comes to online spending. With ZA Bank by your side, you can keep your transactions and savings safer than before.
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So what are you waiting for? Go to the ZA Bank App and customise your level of protection now! 🏃
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