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HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong) push digital payment services as border reopening promises e-commerce boost
- HSBC launched a new platform that allows corporate customers to accept payment in one of six foreign currencies in a much shorter time
- BOCHK saw cross-border digital payments between Hong Kong and the mainland increase by 40 per cent in the first two weeks after the border reopened
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HSBC and Bank of China (Hong Kong), two of the city’s major lenders, have expanded their digital payment services to support cross-border transactions as the reopening of China’s border is expected to boost e-commerce in the post-Covid era.
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HSBC, the biggest of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks, introduced a one-stop digital payment tool called HSBC Merchant Box on Thursday. The new platform allows its corporate customers, which include many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that sell products online, to receive cross-border payments from their overseas customers in any of six different currencies in a matter of minutes.
It will simplify and shorten the payment process, the bank claims. Previously, it took the companies several days to collect payments from abroad as they needed to go through different banks or payment platforms.
HSBC believes the new solution will allow Hong Kong’s small businesses to “receive like a local” at real-time exchange rates in foreign currencies – Australian dollars, Canadian dollars, euros, British pounds, Singapore dollars and US dollars.
“Quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and mainland China, and closer economic integration in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) will combine to support growth of merchandise trade,” said Frank Fang, general manager and head of commercial banking for HSBC Hong Kong and Macau.
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After three years of lockdown during the pandemic, China and Hong Kong started to reopen their border on January 8, before abandoning all tests and quotas this week.
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