UX content for the peer-to-peer payment launch
Banking app UX writing for a regulated, time-pressured launch with no existing content precedent.
Writing UX copy for HSBC's Faster Payment System launch — a regulated, time-pressured product with no existing content precedent to work from.
Metrics and outcomes
The challenge
HSBC was an early adopter of Hong Kong's Faster Payment System in 2018, which meant building an entirely new UX journey with little lead time and no existing content to work from. The business need was speed without confusion — launch fast, without users abandoning a payment method they didn't yet trust.
FPS introduced concepts most users had never seen: FPS identifiers, bill reference numbers, multi-bank transfers. We had to explain all of it inside the app while still sounding like HSBC: authoritative and clear, never condescending. The user need was a guided path through unfamiliar territory that still felt effortless.
The problem to solve: write UX copy for a payment system so new that no prior HSBC content could serve as a template, without losing clarity or brand voice along the way.
Gathering insights
Stakeholder mapping and coordination
First, I needed to understand the scrum team's members and work scopes. For example, how did the business analyst pass work scope to UX designers and copywriters, and what did the Scrum Masters need in order to track progress? I was a junior team member, and getting these details right opened the path for everything that followed.
Understanding the basics
This job was my first exposure to editorial style guides, tones of voice, bilingual writing guides and UX design. It also taught me project management and Agile workflows. That let me work out what the Hong Kong retail banking user actually needed, and how to ease their navigation effort while keeping everything on-brand.
Ideation
Immersive contribution
I was embedded within a scrum team, working directly with UX designers and business analysts across sprint cycles to write English UX copy for the FPS component of the HSBC mobile app. Inside that team I worked as a full Agile member, deciding what worked for the project and the design specs.
The work covered the full payment journey — entry point, payee setup, confirmation, error handling — keeping every string consistent with HSBC's tone and clear to a general banking audience meeting FPS for the first time.
Stakeholder management ran alongside the writing itself. Multiple product owners and business analysts were involved, and keeping copy consistent across scenarios meant clear documentation and version control through delivery.
Results
- Delivered full payment-journey UX copy for a first-of-its-kind product with no existing content precedent
- Embedded inside HSBC's Agile team across every sprint, working directly with UX designers and business analysts
- Selected to support the workflows of 3 markets and set UX content standards off the back of FPS: Hong Kong, the UK and India
