HSBC is shuttering its international payments app Zing, which the bank launched a year ago to challenge cross-border payments companies such as Wise, PayPal and Remitly.
“Following a strategic review within the HSBC Group, we have made the decision to close Zing and integrate its underlying technology platform into HSBC,” a spokesperson for the company told Banking Dive in an email.
“This decision forms part of the simplification of the Group announced in 2024 to focus on increasing leadership and market share in the areas where we have a clear competitive advantage, and where we have the greatest opportunities to grow and support our clients,” the spokesperson added.
The company informed customers of the closure Tuesday in an email, the spokesperson noted. The London-based financial institution also posted a notice to that effect on its Zing website under the heading “We are saying goodbye.”
Zing was rolled out in January 2024 for HSBC and non-HSBC customers in the U.K., with plans to expand to other countries and in a bid to capture a share of the international money transfer market.
Zing allowed customers to hold up to 10 currencies, and offered fee-free spending in supported currencies for users while traveling, and international transfers in about 30 currencies. The app complemented HSBC's global money account, which lets bank customers hold funds in up to eight currencies and make free transfers to other HSBC customers.
According to Zing's website, the fintech is not accepting new applications. All accounts and applications will continue to function as usual until April 2; through that date, customers can add funds, convert currencies, transfer, spend or withdraw money in their accounts.
However, no new funds can be added after April 2, and Zing will officially shutter on May 22, after which customers can no longer access the app, the bank said.
The spokesperson noted that existing Zing customers will be given the option to become HSBC U.K. bank customers and use the bank’s global money proposition, which will be subject to know-your-customer checks.
HSBC declined to comment on how many jobs would be lost due to the closure. Zing’s shutdown could affect around 400 jobs, and those impacted, including a significant number of non-HSBC external support staff, will be informed, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Nuno Matos, who was formerly CEO of HSBC’s global wealth and personal banking business, previously described the fintech’s launch as the lender’s strategic move to target the global payments market.
“Zing has a global ambition,” Matos told Bloomberg last January. “We want to establish ourselves as a global platform for international payments, which ties perfectly with our international payments strategy for HSBC.”
Matos was seen as a top contender for the CEO role after Noel Quinn announced his exit last April. But Matos left the firm in August after Georges Elhedery was named CEO; Elhedery began a sweeping overhaul of the lender’s organizational structure after taking the reins last year.
HSBC's investment in its Zing app had been decreasing under new leadership, with management viewing further development as not worth the capital investment, the source told Reuters.
In 2022, HSBC invested $35 million in Monese, a U.K. fintech, and used the platform’s tech stack to build Zing, according to the Financial Times. However, HSBC wrote off its stake in Monese last year, and British fintech firm Pockit acquired Monese around the same time.
