Visit Hong Kong - personal bank account?

[EricVN]

Hello,

I am traveling in Hong Kong on friday.
I would like to open a personal account.
Any recommandation about a bank?

Thanks
Eric

 

[JohnLocke]

Try HSBC while you are able to go in person. Have you arranged something with a lawyer there or agent that may be able to help you?

 

[7889]

This mostly depends on your citizenship. If it's EU, very likely you can open it on the spot.
All banks would require proof of address and at least vague explanation on why do you need account in HK. But, surprisingly, there is one exception - Bank of China, they don't ask for address proof if you open regular saving accounts (they will still ask for it if you want securities account). I would recommend them as first choice as they generally leave you alone. See here for details - https://www.bochk.com/dam/bochk/desktop/interface/AC_Open_en.pdf

 

[Bonam]

Hello,

I am traveling in Hong Kong on friday.
I would like to open a personal account.
Any recommandation about a bank?

Thanks
Eric

you should check everything before even ordering a ticket tho

 

[Silvio]

Are you guys serious?

From what I hear HSBC, DBS, OCBC will NOT open any personal accounts for anybody in the EU.

Has anybody here actually tried and managed to open an account, recently?

 

[7889]

Are you guys serious?

From what I hear HSBC, DBS, OCBC will NOT open any personal accounts for anybody in the EU.

Has anybody here actually tried and managed to open an account, recently?

That is absolutely not true.
HSBC admittedly will be the hardest, and will not open account on the spot, but you will not be refused immediately or fed some bs like "we only open accounts for permanent HK id holders".
Having statement from a different bank showing you have over 100k usd in cash/investment will be of great help.
Again, with all that said, Bank of China is currently the easiest one for non-HK residents.

 

[Silvio]

Maybe you will not be rejected on the spot but they will keep asking for more and more docs until you give up...
So yeah you're right in the sense that they won't "reject" you but they will also not open. I know several very wealthy people that have been struggling there for many months and all eventually gave up. 100K cash in bank statement didn't help

I did hear about Bank of China being the easiest. Do you now any others that are still opening?

 

[EricVN]

i do not arrange anything with a layer or agent...

I have french and turkish passport.

i will try Bank of China and let you know

 

[7889]

I did hear about Bank of China being the easiest. Do you now any others that are still opening?

Bank of East Asia is fine, but their internet bank is absolutely terrible with laughable limits, and all transactions over 50k usd must be made in person. So there's that

 

[EricVN]

@7889 thanks...i will try next time Bank of East Asia...but "their internet bank is absolutely terrible ".....That's not particularly encouraging.

 

[myhand]

i do not arrange anything with a layer or agent...

I have french and turkish passport.

i will try Bank of China and let you know

Considering you are in Hong Kong I would hurry and get some meetings arranged with agency services on spot. You may need them if not now, then in the future!

 

[busdriver]

Check out NEAT (no travel to HK required).
But currently only HKD (they said they plan more currencies), master card and limited bank account features.

 

[EricVN]

@busdriver i do not recommend Neat..
they are closing a lot of accounts.

 

[busdriver]

Yes, not sure how good they will be in the long run. But of course they will close a lot of accounts. They made it very easy to open one in the first place.
Maybe they close those that look suspicious, like having high turn-over from day one ... One might want to put oneself into the shoes of a bank and act accordingly.

 

[call2vn]

They don't like Vietnamese passport without HKID, without TaxID,... hehe! You can not open a personal bank account when walk-in!

 

[EricVN]

Just back from HK -

I confim...it's difficult without an agency.

 

[call2vn]

Just back from HK -

I confim...it's difficult without an agency.

Agency is can not helping you anything. Experience with 5 years in Hong Kong

 

[Silvio]

@EricVN can you tell us more? How did it go, which banks did you go to?

 

[Runway]

Chong Hing Bank
accepts non residents, opening fees however are 10k HKD. Other banks that accept non residents have a similar fee

 

[GiGoGo]

Try Bank of China and tell them you're going to deposit 200k HKD later.