MEVAS Bank (simplified Chinese: 丰明银行; traditional Chinese: 豐明銀行) was a bank based in Hong Kong. It was established in April 2001 with a total investment of ¥300 million (US$46,511,627.91).[1] Within the first two weeks of its opening, over a thousand people signed up for their banking services. The bank marketed itself as being Hong Kong's first virtual bank and publicised that customers could use it to do 24-hour online banking. MEVAS Bank's targeted clientele was young professionals.[1]
 MEVAS Bank logo | |||||||||||
Native name | 豐明銀行 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | April 2001 | ||||||||||
| Defunct | 2012 | ||||||||||
| Headquarters | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Parent | Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 豐明銀行 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 丰明银行 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Website | http://www.mevas.com/ | ||||||||||
In 2002, after Hong Kong's legalisation of football gambling, MEVAS Bank partnered with the English football club Arsenal F.C. to create a credit card, Arsenal's first credit card not issue in the UK.[2][3] Between June 2002 and January 2003, the company had a loss of ¥$16.6 million (US$2,573,643.41) at the beginning of 2003 had 80 employees.[4] In May 2003, the bank increased its fee for bank accounts with low balances, which affected 20% of its customer base, or 20,000 people in total. According to Chen Zhiming, a CLSA analyst, although MEVAS Bank's low balance account fee would have little effects on its revenue, it would reduce the number of customers who had low balances and were making MEVAS lose money.[5] In 2003, MEVAS Bank issued its first pet store credit card, and by May of that year, the bank's customers had signed up for over 80,000 of its different types of credit cards.[6] In November 2003, the bank launched the PreciousMoments credit card, which had minimum income requirement of HKD$60,000 (US$7,722.01).[7] In 2005, MEVAS Bank had at 0.75% the highest deposit interest rate among small- and medium-sized banks.[8]
It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited.[1][9] It was known as D.A.H. Private Bank Limited (Chinese: 安新私人銀行有限公司) EX-Wing On Bank[10] until 2 March 2001 when it was renamed "MEVAS Bank". In September 2010, Dah Sing Bank acquired the minority interests in D.A.H. Private Bank Limited (DAHP). It then transferred the private banking business, including loans and deposits, of DAHP to Dah Sing Bank.[1] MEVAS Bank had five branches located in Central, Queen's Road Central, Wan Chai, Mong Kok, and Tuen Mun.[1] Four of those branches were renamed to the Dah Sing brand,[11] while the Central branch kept its branding.[1] It had over 100,000 customers in 2010.[1]
MEVAS Bank was no longer in business from 2012 and removed as licensed bank in Hong Kong Monetary Authority register but was bought by Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited on January 13, 2013.[12]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g 呂雪玲 (2010-09-20). "豐明分行歸入大新 11月生效 僅保留中環分行" [MEVAS Bank classified into Dah Sing. Effective in November. Only the Central branch will be reserved.]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "豐明推新卡食正賭波合法化" [MEVAS releases new card after legalisation of football gambling]. The Sun (in Chinese). Oriental Press Group. 2002-11-30. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ 李八方 (2002-11-28). "豐明銀行阿仙奴信用卡響應政府 - 李八方" [MEVAS Bank Arsenal Credit Card in response to the government - PF Lee]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "大新傳裁員百人" [Dah Sing Lays Off 100 People]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 2003-01-06. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "豐明低存戶需月繳20元" [MEVAS Bank low depositors need to pay 20 yuan a month]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 2003-04-03. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "信用卡消費勢必倒退" [Credit card spending is bound to go backwards]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 2003-05-03. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "豐明壞帳率與市場相若" [MEVAS' bad debt rate is similar to the market's]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 2003-11-22. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ 张明 (2005-02-04). "香港主要银行昨未随美加息 港美息差接近2.5厘" [Major banks in Hong Kong did not raise interest rates with the US yesterday. The interest rate spread between Hong Kong and the US is close to 2.5%.] (in Chinese). China News Service. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "FinTech熱潮席捲全球 虛擬銀行邁進金融新世代" [FinTech boom sweeps the world, virtual banks enter a new era of finance]. Hong Kong Economic Journal (in Chinese). 2017-12-01. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "港曾推虛擬銀行 未突破實體運作" [Hong Kong has launched a virtual bank. It has not broken through the physical operation]. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 2019-03-11. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "財話短說: 豐明歸入大新下月生效" [Financial brief: MEVAS' inclusion in Dah Sing will take effect next month]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 2010-10-30. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
- ^ "Hong Kong Monetary Authority Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Hong Kong Monetary Authority. 2013. p. 209. ISSN 2221-5751. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
