{"text":[[{"start":9.25,"text":"Its name may not be familiar to stock investors, but digital bank WeLab is rapidly becoming a superstar among the very institutions it hopes to disrupt."}],[{"start":20.14,"text":"Last month, the Hong Kong-based company said it raised $220 million through an equity and debt sale, in what it says was the largest fundraising for a digital bank last year. WeLab, which calls itself “a leading pan-Asian fintech platform,” will use the funds for expansion in Southeast Asia and product development, as well as potential acquisitions."}],[{"start":44.49,"text":"Equally impressive as the big amount is WeLab’s investor list, which features big names like HSBC and Prudential, as well as sovereign-wealth fund Hong Kong Investment Corp. WeLab was founded in 2013 by Simon Loong, whose own resume includes more big banking names from his previous long stints at Citibank and Standard Chartered. Prior to the latest fundraising round, the company bagged $156 million in 2019 from institutions including state-owned banking titan China Construction Bank."}],[{"start":83.49000000000001,"text":"No valuation was given for the latest fundraising. But the company was already valued at $1 billion after the 2019 funding, and is probably worth much more by now after raising $1.75 billion over eight funding rounds to date, according to the Tracxn database."}],[{"start":101.78,"text":"WeLab’s fundraising record shows it’s rapidly attracting a wide range of major traditional financial institutions that are betting on the future of fast-evolving digital banking. Online lenders like WeLab are moving beyond their niche as sleek financial app operators to become full-scale, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered financial ecosystems."}],[{"start":125.81,"text":"WeLab is also one of a growing number of financial institutions using Hong Kong, a regional financial hub, as a strategic base to target both the Chinese and other Asian markets. It is among eight licensed digital banks in Hong Kong, alongside other players backed by such big names as Alibaba, Tencent, ICBC, JD.com, Standard Chartered, Ping An and Xiaomi, according to a list published last year by the Fintech News Network."}],[{"start":156.35,"text":"For WeLab and its digital banking peers, the most pressing question is whether they can generate returns that justify the investment required to run their capital-intensive banking operations, and mature into self-funded companies with sustainable profits. The expansion of WeLab’s investor base to encompass a who’s-who of the financial industry, with both Western and Chinese backers, certainly looks like a strong vote of confidence for the company."}],[{"start":188.14,"text":"That confidence isn’t without foundation. As the largest digital bank by revenue in Hong Kong, WeLab broke even for the first time ever in December 2024 on a monthly basis, and then turned a profit for the first half of last year. Its revenue was also growing fast, by 70% year-on-year to HK$430 million ($60 million) in the first half of 2025, according to its latest financial report, which it released voluntarily. It boasted a “robust” capital adequacy ratio that exceeds 20% at the end of last June, well above the minimum required by Hong Kong."}],[{"start":231.96999999999997,"text":"One important caveat is that unlisted WeLab isn’t subject to the same reporting requirements as publicly traded companies. But its financial performance is quite notable for a fintech venture as many of its peers are still burning cash. The company’s decision to voluntarily disclose its financial results perhaps speaks to its own confidence about its ability to outperform its competitors."}],[{"start":258.07,"text":"WeLab runs a number of platforms, in addition to its namesake digital bank in Hong Kong. It also offers consumer loans specifically in Hong Kong via WeLand, and it operates the WeLab Digital loan facilitation platform for customers across the border in Mainland China. The company provides credit technology services for banks and institutions as well."}],[{"start":282.46999999999997,"text":"Geographic diversification"}],[{"start":285.10999999999996,"text":"WeLab has also achieved some geographic diversification beyond Hong Kong and Mainland China by joining forces with one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia. In 2022, WeLab and Astra Financial together acquired Bank Jasa with a plan to transform the brick-and-mortar lender into a digital-only one that targets individual “solopreneurs” like freelancers. The two partners wasted no time and made that conversion happen the following year."}],[{"start":316.46,"text":"The fact that WeLab prominently mentioned expansion in Southeast Asia in its latest fundraising announcement suggests that it may try to replicate its Indonesia partnership elsewhere in the region or pursue outright acquisitions to carve out a truly pan-Asian presence."}],[{"start":335.10999999999996,"text":"The company’s desire to become a regional player probably doesn’t require much explanation as it’s easy to see why the digital banking market in Asia has big potential. Fundamentally, the convenience of fast, hassle-free online financial services like WeLab’s is a welcome time saver for anyone loathing trips to physical bank branches, especially entrepreneurs working alone or with small teams."}],[{"start":363.00999999999993,"text":"And in vast developing economies like Indonesia, a lot of people still lack access to banking services, partly because there are too few banks compared to their big populations. Online banking solves this problem. That demand is expected to help the digital banking market in Asia more than double in size to $5.1 trillion by 2033 from 2024, as internet and smartphone penetration deepens, according to the Market Data Forecast."}],[{"start":393.30999999999995,"text":"Plus, lending in emerging markets like those in Southeast Asia is much more lucrative than in mature economies like Hong Kong because margins are higher. That means expansion across that region can help improve profitability."}],[{"start":409.3999999999999,"text":"At the same time, digital banks like WeLab offer their traditional financial sector backers exposure to the types of emerging services and business models that they may also hope to eventually copy. For HSBC, for example, its stake in WeLab can offer a close-up view of agile, cloud-native banking technology and an exclusively digital customer base, which can yield valuable knowledge that it can leverage for its own operations down the road. And all the better if the investment leads to financial gains."}],[{"start":444.42999999999995,"text":"But risks do exist for WeLab. Among other things, targeting individual borrowers is always a double-edged sword. Although margins on loans to them are typically higher than those for business customers, they are also often riskier. WeLab doesn’t disclose its non-performing loan ratio, unlike listed banks, so it’s hard to assess the quality of its loan book. But the figure is likely higher than traditional lenders focused on large companies."}],[{"start":474.46999999999997,"text":"Competition is bound to intensify too as Hong Kong awards more digital banking licenses and established financial institutions accelerate their own digitalization. Still, if WeLab uses its fresh capital to step up expansion in high-growth markets in Southeast Asia while beefing up its technological capabilities, the company could turn itself into a model for others to follow as a profitable pan-Asian digital bank."}],[{"start":511.29999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1770895159_1017.mp3"}