Hong Kong neobank WeLab Bank, Mastercard to launch numberless bank card

It will be available for use immediately after opening an account with the lender.

Hong Kong virtual-only lender WeLab Bank has partnered with Mastercard and to launch a numberless bank card, an announcement revealed.

Whilst WeLab Bank services are designed to be 100% operated from a mobile phone, a physical card may have wider acceptance and provide added convenience to consumers’ daily lives when making payments at certain merchants or withdrawing cash, the announcement noted.

The WeLab Debit Card will be available for use immediately after opening a bank account with the lender in the form of a virtual card from the WeLab Bank app, followed by the delivery of a physical card.

“Beyond local spending, over 30% of online transactions were processed by merchants outside of Hong Kong, powered by the worldwide acceptance and processing capabilities of Mastercard’s global network. Such data insights from customers’ behavior can further bolster WeLab Bank’s partnership with Mastercard, as well as the bank’s relationship with merchants, enabling them to deliver more relevant offers to customers,” the press release added.