[Bojak83]

Hi All,

I have a quick question about personal savings / checking accounts in Hong Kong. I may be transferring over to my company's Hong Kong office in a few months, and it would be nice if I can just maintain my Citibank or HSBC account if these 2 banks and their ATMs are common enough.

I don't remember seeing them when I visited last year. Even HSBC, which is party named after the city....I don't recall them being in every street corner.

Do you guys think I would have to open an account at some local Chinese bank? Or can I just start holding HKD with those 2 accounts?

Thanks Everyone,
D

[Katanga]

Its better to have an HSBC account if ATM is what you need as there are far more HSBC ATM machines than there are Citi ones'.

Probably the best thing to do to open the account in HK is to see if you can upgrade your acount in your home country to a Premier account and then ask them to help you open an account in HK.

It will be a breeze...only if its premier.

[mjk]

Originally Posted by Bojak83

I don't remember seeing them when I visited last year. Even HSBC, which is party named after the city....I don't recall them being in every street corner.

HSBC: Either a branch or ATM is at nearly every corner. And with an HSBC ATM card you can also draw money from Hang Seng Bank free of charge.

[Bojak83]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll go ask for a premier account, hopefully the fees aren't ridiculously high.

[PDLM]

It's not about fees - you have to maintain a minimum total relationship balance with them to qualify. In HK it is HK$1M (about US$125K), in the UK it's GBP60K - not sure in the US.

[jngai]

it's $100K in the US if you want to upgrade to a premier account in HSBC.

[hktraveller]

Originally Posted by jngai

it's $100K in the US if you want to upgrade to a premier account in HSBC.

The lowest balance is required in China: 500000 RMB

[uvfleur]

Hi,
I tried to do the same thing when I moved to HK last year. UK account with HSBC and I was moving to HK – but with no job so wasn’t sure whether they would give me account in HK. Don't bother going to the bank in the UK to arrange anything - just notify them that you will be going to HK (so they don't think if your card is used here it is fraud).

It was no problem though to open account in HK – just need a passport and about ½ an hour in HSBC in HK and they give you your card there and then.

Not sure if your HK employer would pay into a UK account and they wouldn't be able to pay dollars (it would be exchanged to GBP). Also you would be charged everytime you draw money in HK.

I keep my UK account though as still buy things online and to transfer money back from HSBC HK to HSBC UK costs about 8GBP a time (doesn’t matter how much) and easy enough through website.

When I opened by account in HK – they didn’t pay any attention to the fact that I had a UK HSBC account (or I didn’t currently have a job) so don’t upgrade to premier in the UK – will prob cost and no point (in the case of getting a HSBC HK account anyway). Although when I visited a UK branch before I left they tried to tell me it would and they didn’t really have a clue. In fact I wasted more time with HSBC in the UK trying to work out what I needed to do than it took opening the account in HK.

If you have less that about 700GBP (10,000HKD) in your normal HSBC HK account you are charged around 5GBP equiv per month. Otherwise there are no charges for just having the HK account.

HSBC machines all over in HK. Although you can use other machines you are no charged for using HSBC or Heung Seung machines (approx 1.70GBP per transaction for other machine I think).

Hope this helps.

[PDLM]

I disagree with that. Once you are Premier with HSBC you get a Relationship Manager who gives a level of service much higher than standard "counter" service.. Opening accounts with them in other countries is easy, and transfers between your Premier accounts around the world are free.

Originally Posted by uvfleur

Not sure if your HK employer would pay into a UK account and they wouldn't be able to pay dollars (it would be exchanged to GBP). Also you would be charged everytime you draw money in HK.

Again this is just wrong - it is perfectly possible to have a HKD account in the UK, in the same way as you can have a GBP account in Hong Kong.

And if you are Premier then there are no fees for withdrawing money from any HSBC ATM anywhere in the world.

[uvfleur]

The HSBC bank which I visted prior to my trip here then got it all wrong!