/payments

News and resources on payments systems, innovations and initiatives worldwide.

HSBC to launch Transferwise rival

HSBC is taking on the likes of Transferwise and Revolut with the launch of Global Money Account, a free mobile-based service that customers can use to hold, manage and send funds in various currencies to HSBC customers in over 20 markets around the clock in real-time without incurring any fees.

  25 4 comments

HSBC to launch Transferwise rival

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Global Money Account is launching in the US first, and will be rolled out to other markets in 2021. Customers can get instant access in just five clicks via their existing banking app.

Carolyn Criscitiello, head of digital payments wealth and personal banking, HSBC USA, says: “The ambition for Global Money is to provide our customers with one global account for all of their financial needs so that if they move from one market to another, they don’t need to open a new account, they just take their existing account with them. This will allow them to pay bills in multiple markets, make cross border transfers and spend like a local wherever they are.”

The launch of the service marks a growing trend by banks to claw back business lost to trend-setting fintechs like Transferwise and Revolut, which offer similar borderless accounts to consumers. Banco Santander for instance has launched a standalone service, PagoFX, for the UK retail market and sole traders.

HSBC's Criscitiello says the bank intends to ultimately extend the payment service to allow instant international transfers to customers with other banks, too.

Sponsored [On-Demand Webinar] Solving the KYC challenge with end-to-end processes

Comments: (4)

Robin Setty

Robin Setty Partnerships Lead for banking solutions at ACI Worldwide (EMEA) Limited

Exactly the type of competition that Transferwise was intended to create.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

How does a product that only supports payments between two HSBC customers in two different countries become a competitor of TransferWise? Unless I'm missing something, I've used a similar product from Citi over 10 years ago. 

Peter Minev

Peter Minev CEO at DGLegacy

Ketharaman - agree, in it's current version it's nothing new, but the last paragraph hints that they plan to become full-fledged rival of Transferwise:

"HSBC's Criscitiello says the bank intends to ultimately extend the payment service to allow instant international transfers to customers with other banks, too."

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

@PeterMinev:

TY for highlighting. TBH, I stopped reading at "The ambition for Global Money is to provide our customers with one global account". If HSBC's ambition itself is so limited, I thought there's no point reading further.

[New Report] Managing Fraud Risks with Synthetic Data: A Practical Approach for Businesses ServicesFinextra Promoted[New Report] Managing Fraud Risks with Synthetic Data: A Practical Approach for Businesses Services Industry