EXCLUSIVE: UK-based Hong Kong activist Finn Lau says Wise restored his bank accounts after sudden closures

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist based in the UK has said that three of his bank accounts with financial company Wise, including one for diaspora news outlet Points Media, have been reactivated following sudden closures. Activist Finn Lau. Photo: Finn Lau, via Facebook. Finn Lau, an activist, told HKFP on Monday that Wise had reactivated his three accounts after press freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders and the UK-based Hong Kong Watch intervened. The reactivation was pending a “final confirmation,” Lau added. The activist said on X last Friday that Wise had closed the three accounts on the grounds of ’internal policies’ and agreements with banking partners.” The three accounts included one personal account and two business accounts. One of the business accounts was for the daily operations of Points Media, which he is the executive director of. Founded in 2023 by a group of former Hong Kong journalists who are now based in the UK, Points Media reports on Hong Kong affairs from abroad. Lau said Points Media’s account was the only one in active use while the other two accounts had been “dormant for months.” The Points Media’s account was used for “ordinary business expenditure,” including payments to Amazon Web Services and Google Workspace, he said. A screenshot of the homepage of Points Media on August 17, 2026. Photo: Screenshot. “The closure has real consequences. Points Media is a small, independent UK-based media organisation. It has disrupted essential payments and access to financial records while our statutory accounts and Company Tax Return are due later this month,” Lau added. Lau said he had appealed and requested a human review, adding that he stood ready to address Wise’s concerns with proof. Wise told HKFP on Monday it does not comment on individual cases due to “several disclosure prohibitions.” UK MPs raise concern Four UK parliamentarians issued a joint letter to Wise following Lau’s disclosure last week, demanding clarity. “We are concerned that, absent any specific reason or justification… this action might have occurred as the result of either illegitimate foreign state pressure or due to abuse of Wise’s system in order to force closure of the account,” the letter – co-signed by David Alton, Natalie Bennett, James Naish, and Tom Tugendhat – read. The four MPs are patrons of Hong Kong Watch, a UK-based NGO that counts Lau as an advisory board member. Wise was founded in 2011 “with the vision of making international money transfer cheap, fair, and simple,” according to the company webpage. The UK Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. Lau is wanted by Hong Kong police over national security allegations, with a HK$1 million bounty offered for information leading to his arrest. In June 2024, the Hong Kong government cancelled Lau’s passport alongside five other pro-democracy activists living overseas using powers under the city’s homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known locally as Article 23. Lau said at that time that he had never owned a Hong Kong passport and called the cancellation an “explicit act of transnational repression.” Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature. The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Founded in 2015, Hong Kong Free Press is an impartial, non-profit, award-winning English-language newspaper. Run by journalists, backed by readers and 100% independent, HKFP is governed by a public Code of Ethics. If there are uncertainties relating to safety or security, we may use an "HKFP Staff" byline. More on our Ethics & Policies. More by Hong Kong Free Press