Mox Bank Review: Everything you need to know

Mox by Standard Chartered is a pioneering digital bank in Hong Kong. It offers customers a flexible combined credit and debit card, ways to earn cash back on spending, and interest on your savings. This guide runs through the key features of the Mox account including benefits and fees.

As a trusted partner of Wise Platform, Mox Bank has integrated Wise’s global payments infrastructure into their app, meaning customers of Mox can now benefit from the best way to send and spend money globally. In fact, thanks to our partnership, Mox customers are now able to make international payments using Mox’s Express Remit service to send HKD to 10 currencies including: AUD, SGD, USD, CNY, EUR, GBP, IDR, INR, JPY, and PHP.

Learn more about Mox Bank

Table of contents
Mox Bank Key Features How to open a Mox account? Mox Bank Fees

Mox Bank Key Features

Mox Bank is a fully digital bank, which was launched in 2020 and is a partnership between Standard Chartered, HKT, PCCW and Trip.com. That means it’s a powerful combo of a banking giant, a telecom and lifestyle leader and Asia’s largest online travel agent.

As a virtual bank, Mox doesn’t have branches. Instead, you can manage your money 24/7 from your mobile and online. And because of some clever lifestyle partnerships, Mox customers can also benefit from cash back, rewards, exclusive offers and more. With Mox credit at the time of writing (March 2024) you'll get between 1% on all spend on eligible transactions at eligible merchants, 2% for those with over HKD 75,000 eligible balance at time of transaction, plus specials of 3% for spending with grocery merchants and designated partner companies. With Mox debit, you’ll get 0.5% on all spend - as real cash back, not restrictive reward points.

Mox Bank is regulated by the HKMA, which means your money is insured up to 500,000 HKD per depositor. Here are some of the key features of a Mox account - we’ll dive deeper into the most important of these in just a moment.

• Combined credit and debit card
• No annual fee
• Virtual and physical cards available
• Apply for credit and get a decision in minutes
• Manage your account online and on the go
• Compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Send HKD to 10 currencies with Express Remit Service powered by Wise Platform
• Earn cash back on spending and 1.5% interest on savings
• Split your payments and choose a payoff time of 3 to 60 months

Over the last few years, Mox has established itself as one of the leading FinTechs in Hong Kong's growing FinTech space, offering customers next generation app capabilities and easy to use features, including the ability to send HKD overseas via its partnership with Wise Platform.

Mox Credit

When you apply for a Mox account you'll automatically get a linked account card. However, you won’t get a separate Mox bank debit card and a Mox bank credit card. Instead you’ll get one card which has debit function already enabled, and can then apply to add credit options to the same card. The end result is a neat combined card you can use for both credit and debit spending.

Mox Credit Card features include:

• No annual fee
• No late payment fees
• Up to 56 days interest free
• Get in-app reminders when your payment is due

Additional fees apply for Mox credit options, including interest, cash advance and split purchase fees. Key costs are outlined below - check the fees out in full before you apply.

How to open a Mox account?

You can open a Mox account easily online. If you also want to use the Mox credit option you’ll need to make a second application online for that - you’ll usually get a decision in minutes.

Apply online for a Mox account by downloading the Mox app. You’ll need the following documents and information to hand:

• HKID
• Nationality
• Place of birth
• Preferred name
• Email and phone number
• Residential address
• Tax ID
• Occupation and income
• Reason for opening the account

Once your main Mox account is arranged you can apply for credit to use your Mox card as a combined credit and debit card. You’ll need your HKID card to apply and - depending on the situation - may need to upload documents to support your application.

Mox Bank Fees

Before you choose any financial product you’ll want to know what the associated fees and charges look like. Here’s a rundown of the key costs for Mox bank accounts - including the Mox credit and debit card fees you’ll need to know about.¹

Fee type	Mox fee (HKD)
Local ATM Cash Withdrawals	JETCO: Free of charge Mastercard: $20 per transaction
Overseas ATM Cash Withdrawals	JETCO: $30 per transaction, JETCO exchange rate applies Mastercard: $30 + 1.95%, Mastercard exchange rate applies
Foreign Exchange Handling Fee	1.95%
Cross-Border Access Fee	1.95%
Replacement Fee	Mox card: $50 Metal Mox card: $350
Currency Exchange Fee	The higher of: up to 1% of the actual selling amount (the percentage will vary depending on the currency pair); and the smallest denomination of the selling currency or USD0.01 or its equivalent in the selling currency, whichever is higher.
Remit Fee	If you make a transfer: of a Foreign Currency that you already have in your Mox Account, Mox will charge a Remit Fee of a minimum amount of 1 unit of that Foreign Currency; and using the Hong Kong dollar deposits in your Mox Account, Mox will charge: the currency exchange fee referred to above for the currency exchange; and a Remit Fee of a minimum amount of 1 unit of the Foreign Currency that you wish to transfer in Hong Kong dollars.
Annualised Percentage Rate (APR) for Retail Purchase	35.99%
Annualised Percentage Rate (APR) for Cash Advance	35.91%
Cash Advance Fee	$100

So it's clear that Mox has plenty of features to help you manage your money. Getting a combined debit and credit card can give you more flexible spending, with the bonus of earning cashback and interest as you save. Take a look at the full details online if you think Mox might be the one for you.

And if what you love about Mox is the convenience of managing your money online and on the go - but you need a separate method of sending payments abroad in multiple currencies in addition to the 10 available via Mox's Express Remit service, check out the Wise account. The Wise account offers the option to send your money in 40+ currencies at the mid-market rate with low, transparent prices and no hidden fees.

Open a Wise account for free

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Sources:

1 Mox: Fees and Charges

Sources last checked on 20 Mar 2024