Mox and ZA Bank top YouGov’s brand equity ranking of virtual banks in Hong Kong across 2023

How do leading players in Hong Kong’s burgeoning virtual banking sector compare in their brand health over the recent past?

In this article, we review data from YouGov BrandIndex – a syndicated brand tracker which continuously collects data on thousands of brands around the globe every day – to see which virtual banks enjoys the strongest brand equity among consumers in Hong Kong.

Which virtual banks were most favourably perceived by consumers in Hong Kong?

Among major virtual banks in Hong Kong, ZhongAn insurance’s ZA Bank and Mox by Standard Chartered were viewed most positively by consumers over the past 12 months. They achieved the highest Index scores (5.9 and 5.8 respectively) – an overall measure of brand health, calculated as the average of its Impression, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation, Customer Satisfaction and Recommendation scores.

Bank of China (Hong Kong)-backed livi bank is the next most favourably viewed virtual bank (4.1), followed by WeLab bank (3.7), Xiaomi’s Airstar (3.2) and Tencent-backed Fusion Bank (3.2) – which are ahead of Ping An OneConnect Bank / PAOB (2.7) and Alibaba Group-affiliated Ant Bank (2.3).

PAOB, however, saw the largest year-on-year improvement in Index scores (+2.3), ahead of Ant Bank (+2.0), Airstar (+1.7) and WeLab bank (+1.3).

Fusion Bank (+0.8) and ZA Bank (+0.3) saw much smaller gains, while livi bank maintained the same score.

In contrast, Mox saw its average Index score dip year-on-year (-0.6).

Which virtual banks’ advertisements were most noticed by Hong Kong consumers?

Mox enjoyed the highest Advertising Awareness across major virtual banks in 2023.

More than one in ten (11.2%) of consumers, on average over the past year, recalled seeing its ads.

ZA Bank (7.8%), livi bank (7%) and WeLab bank (5.7%) had the next highest ad awareness, while less than 5% of consumers recalled seeing advertisements from Fusion Bank (4.4%), Ant Bank (4.3%), Airstar (3.7%) and PAOB (2.8%).

Ant Bank, however, saw the largest year-on-year improvement in advertising awareness (+1.5%), ahead of PAOB (+0.2%).

Meanwhile, other insurers saw a decline in their ad awareness across years – with livi bank experiencing the largest drop (-5.2%) ahead of ZA Bank (-3.3%), WeLab bank (-2.8%), Fusion Bank (-2.7%), Mox (-2.4%) and Airstar (-1.5%).

Which virtual banks were consumers in Hong Kong most considering banking with?

Mox also enjoyed the highest Purchase Consideration across major virtual banks in 2023.

When asked about the virtual operators they would consider banking with, one in ten (10%) of consumers, on average over the past year, selected Mox.

The next most considered virtual banks are ZA Bank (9.7%) and livi bank (6.4%) – ahead of Fusion Bank (5.5%), Airstar (5%), Ant Bank (5%) and PAOB (3.8%).

PAOB, however, saw the largest year-on-year improvement in Consideration scores (+2%), ahead of Ant Bank (+1.1%), Airstar (+0.9%), followed by WeLab Bank (+0.3%) and Fusion Bank (+0.2%).

In contrast, annualised consideration scores declined year-on-year for livi bank (-1.5%), Mox (-1.1%) and ZA Bank (-0.8%).

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Index scores, an overall measure of brand health, are an average of Impression, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation, Customer Satisfaction and Recommendation scores. Advertising Awareness scores are based on the question: “Which of the following brands have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks?” (% Yes). Purchase Consideration scores are based on the question: “When you are next in market to purchase [product or service], from which of the following would you consider purchasing?” (% Yes). Learn more about BrandIndex.

_{Cover Photo by Yana Iskayeva}