Three months after securing a restricted banking licence, in1bank is shuffling toward its debut in the Australian market.
Over the weekend in1bank activated its website and opened a waitlist.
"We are in the early stages of building a truly trusted, modern and customer-centric digital bilingual bank," in1bank says.
"If you wish to join us once we officially open for business, please provide your details and we will add you to our growing waiting list."
"Bilingual from the top down" is a key selling point for in1, a neobank founded by James Tong, an executive with more than 40 years' experience and who learned the trade at French bank BNP Paribas.
Tong was CEO at BNP's equities division in Australia the late 1990s and since 2011 has chaired Secvest Capital, an investment bank with a focus on China.
"At in1bank, bilinguality starts from the top with our CEO and cascades all the way through our business," the bank's website explains.
"Our leadership team has a deep understanding of the very nature of what it takes to offer a truly modern, bilingual and multi-cultural banking experience."
We'll see.
These are delicate times for Australia's handful of neobanks, thanks first to Xinja Bank two weeks ago owning up to the vulnerabilities of its aggressive and costly customer acquisition, by closing access to its premium product (although its transaction account is still open for business).It is a little telling that the burst of waitlist-seeking pre-launch publicity for fintech Hay in mid-March is yet to produce the essential second wave, including any update on Hay's capital raising.
The COVID-19 crisis sweeping the world's capital markets is already generating a flight to quality" in consumer deposits. Citigroup's CFO confirmed this is the case - presumably in more than just a parochial US context - at an investor conference late last week.