HSBC suffered another setback in digital banking with the closure of its mobile finance app Zing.

Zing was introduced as a cross-border payment service in January 2023 and was supposed to expand to two continents by the end of 2024. However, the app ultimately remained limited to the British market. According to internal HSBC documents seen by the Financial Times, Zing had a total of 131,000 registered customers but only 8,736 monthly active users — significantly below the internal target of 12,000. The service is set to be permanently discontinued in May.

Thus, Zing joins a series of failed digital projects by major banks. NatWest had to abandon its fintech Bó in 2020 after just six months, Barclays ended its mobile payment service Pingit in 2021. Experts see such failures as a structural problem. "Large banks struggle to develop independent digital brands that could potentially compete with their core business," explained Gary Greenwood of Shore Capital.

A main criticism of Zing was the lack of added value compared to HSBC's existing cross-border payment service Global Money. "The bank has one of the best solutions in the market – so why start a second app?" asked Pierre Legrand from the consultancy Alvarez & Marsal.

Fintech expert Simon Taylor sees the core problem in the slow user acquisition of the major bank: "If you just copy Wise, but don't generate revenue and don't stand out, you won't succeed in five years either." HSBC is the "slowest bank in the UK by far" when it comes to account opening, while fintechs score with fast onboarding processes.

At the same time, these fast processes at neobanks are increasingly in the sights of regulators, limiting the leeway for large banks. HSBC defended the decision to close as part of its "simplification strategy" announced in October. Legrand praised the swift implementation: "They tried it, it didn't work—good. Now they should channel the same energy into new ideas.