WeLab Bank: a licensed virtual bank in Hong Kong

The account is held by Welab Bank Limited, listed among the licensed banks incorporated in Hong Kong in the HKMA's list of authorized institutions as at 31 December 2025. The virtual bank licence was granted in 2019 to WeLab Digital Limited, a name kept as an alias. It is a full banking licence.

The status is verified against the list of authorized institutions published in an annex to the HKMA annual report, as at 31 December 2025; the HKMA's online register could not be consulted directly.

WeLab Bank requires applicants to be at least figure being updated, to hold the valid original of the Hong Kong identity card in the version introduced in 2018, to have a residential address in Hong Kong and to be physically present in Hong Kong. An expatriate holding a work visa and the corresponding identity card falls within this framework.

Visitors from mainland China can open an account with the original of their Chinese identity card, a valid entry and exit record and an address in mainland China or Hong Kong.

Any exclusions by nationality, and what happens to the account after a departure, are not documented on the page consulted.

When the first licences were granted in 2019, the HKMA presented virtual banks as targeting mainly the general public and small and medium-sized businesses in Hong Kong. They are not designed as offshore banks for non-residents: access requires, except through a specific process, Hong Kong resident status.

The offering includes a Hong Kong dollar account, local transfers free of charge via the FPS system according to the bank, time deposits in the available currencies, incoming cross-border transfers in Hong Kong dollars and a funds platform.

The list of available currencies and the full fee schedule were not consulted.

WeLab Bank states that it is a member of the Deposit Protection Scheme and that eligible deposits are protected up to up to HK$800,000¹ per depositor. Investments in funds are not protected deposits.

The limit applies bank by bank: deposits spread across several Hong Kong virtual banks each benefit from their own limit, whereas several accounts opened with the same bank are added together. The increase in the limit is part of a first phase of reforms to the Deposit Protection Scheme that came into force on 1 October 2024, according to the HKMA.

• Physical presence in Hong Kong at the time of account opening.
• The version of the identity card held.
• What happens to the account after leaving Hong Kong.
• Reporting obligations linked to your tax residence: a French tax resident must declare each year the accounts opened, held, used or closed outside France, including those with online banks and payment wallets; other countries impose comparable obligations.
• The tax residence self-certification requested at account opening: depending on the automatic exchange of information commitments of the bank's country, the account's balances and income may be reported to the tax authority of your country of residence.