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February 3, 2025

HSBC fintech app Zing missed user targets before shutdown: ‘It didn’t work’

The closure marks the latest fintech failure from a legacy bank

Martin Coulter

2 min read

Zing, the payments app set up by banking giant HSBC to compete with fintechs like Revolut and Wise, struggled to acquire new customers before it was shut down, reports say.

Launched in January last year, Zing was HSBC’s attempt at keeping up with the next generation of payment platforms, which have sought to poach consumers and B2B customers from the legacy banks amid rapid expansion.

But Zing ultimately met the same fate as similarly unsuccessful apps launched by other major banks such as Barclays and NatWest, with HSBC announcing its closure last month.

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According to an internal presentation seen by the Financial Times, Zing was recording 8,736 monthly active users in mid-December, significantly fewer than its 12k target.

HSBC had planned to launch the app on two continents in 2024, the report said, but never expanded beyond the UK.

"Zing's closure highlights a key challenge for legacy institutions in consumer finance: building meaningful relationships in today's digital landscape," Carl Hazeley, chief analyst and VP of content at financial education platform Finimize, tells Sifted.

"Its limited market presence suggests they struggled to establish a unique proposition that both resonated and could drive long-term loyalty."

Zing’s closure is a stark contrast to fortunes at Wise and Revolut.

Revolut hit a $45bn valuation in August last year after it was granted a UK banking licence and became Europe’s most valuable startup, while Wise reported profits before tax rose 229% to £481m in its latest annual accounts, showing the year up to 31 March 2024.

“It’s a big global bank that tried to put out a product rapidly. They tried, it didn’t work," Pierre Legrand, managing director at consultancy Alvarez & Marsal, told the FT. "Great, take that same spirit and energy and go after the next thing.”

HSBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martin Coulter

Martin Coulter is Sifted's news editor, based in London. You can follow him on LinkedIn and X