The Monetary Authority has granted four more virtual banking licences to Ant SME Services, Infinium, Insight Fintech HK and Ping An OneConnect which take effect today.

The authority's Chief Executive Norman Chan said it is working closely with the eight virtual bank licensees to prepare for the launch of their business operations in accordance with their plans.

According to their business plans, newly licenced virtual banks will launch their services in around six to nine months.

The authority expects to be able to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the virtual banks' operations about one year after the first virtual bank has launched its service.