Banking giant HSBC has confirmed the closure of its cross-border payments app Zing, which could lead to hundreds of job losses. The closure of Zing, which was launched in January 2024, comes as part of the banking giant’s cost reduction efforts.
The closure of Zing, one of last year’s highest-profile fintech launches, will raise new questions about the ability of traditional banks to launch fintech subsidiaries. UK-focused Zing was launched to take on the likes of Wise and Revolut, which have been snatching away customers from traditional rivals with lower exchange fees.
An HSBC spokesperson said:
“Following a strategic review of Zing within the HSBC Group and after careful consideration, we have made the decision to close Zing and integrate its underlying technology platform into HSBC.
“Zing customers will be informed of an alternative option to become HSBC UK banking customers and use the Global Money proposition (subject to KYC checks).
“As part of our regular business reviews, we continually evaluate how to align our resources with our strategic priorities. This includes reviewing changes to our business structure and entities.
“This decision is part of the group’s simplification announced on October 22, 2024.
“HSBC strives to increase its leadership and market share in areas where it has a clear competitive advantage and where it has the greatest opportunities to grow and support its customers.”
According to Reuters, the closure of Zing could result in the loss of around 400 jobs, but HSBC has not confirmed this information. Staff working on Zing are informed today of the decision to close Zing. According to Financial News, which broke the news yesterday, the decision to close Zing also came amid a struggle to restructure Zing’s compliance functions.
HSBC’s new CEO, Georges Elhedery, is looking to cut costs in the HSBC business and focus on its core business. Last year, Lloyds and Barclays-backed loyalty app Bink closed, leading to 46 redundancies. In 2021, NatWest axed Esme Loans, its standalone digital lending platform for SMEs.