The mainland and Hong Kong have fully opened their borders, and many mainland tourists are going to Hong Kong to open bank accounts. I believe that bank accounts should be applied for based on one's actual needs, and one should not blindly follow the trend of opening accounts in Hong Kong. Some netizens found that the Hong Kong accounts they opened did not meet their business needs and ended up gathering dust in a drawer. If the deposit amount does not meet the standard, they also have to pay account management fees. In fact, if there is no special purpose and only light usage is needed, registering for a digital bank in Hong Kong is also a good choice, as account opening and maintenance have almost no cost, and it eliminates the hassle of making appointments and waiting in line.
As of February 28, 2023, there are 8 digital banks in Hong Kong, also known as virtual banks: Ant Bank, Pao Bank, Mox Bank, Airstar Bank, Fusion Bank, WeLab Bank, ZA Bank, and Livi Bank. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's guidelines on "Recognition of Virtual Banks," "virtual banks should not set minimum account balance requirements or charge low balance fees," and "must comply with the same set of regulatory requirements applicable to traditional banks."
Among the above-mentioned digital banks in Hong Kong, currently only ZA Bank and Livi Bank support account opening for mainland identity tourists, while the others require a Hong Kong resident ID. The process of opening an account with a digital bank is quite convenient: download the app, fill in the information step by step, and upload various identification documents to complete the process. The registration process is so simple that I won't demonstrate it in detail. I opened accounts with these two banks during this trip to Hong Kong, and the following table provides a simple comparison.
| ZA Bank | Livi Bank | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | ZA Bank Limited | Livi Bank Limited | As of June 30, 2022, ZA Bank's deposits, loan scale, and user numbers are leading among virtual banks. |
| Major Shareholders | ZhongAn Online, Baishida Group | Bank of China Hong Kong (Holdings), JD Technology, Jardine Matheson Group | |
| License | Virtual bank license + insurance agency license | Virtual bank license + insurance agency license | |
| Account Opening Preparation, Process | Physical presence and mobile location in Hong Kong, +86 mobile number, Hong Kong and Macau travel permit, mainland ID, binding mainland bank card number, facial recognition, fill in relevant information, account opening completed in about 2 days | Physical presence and mobile location in Hong Kong, +86 mobile number, mainland ID, Hong Kong and Macau travel permit, upload entry and exit record PDF file, fill in relevant information, account opening completed in about 2 days | The entry and exit record PDF file can be registered and downloaded from the "Immigration Bureau App" or sent to an email. Both banks do not require proof of address in mainland China. |
| Debit Card | Initially a Visa virtual card, supports custom last 6 digits. Can apply for a physical card, shipped via EMS, received in about 3 days, virtual card automatically disappears after activating the physical card. Daily payment limit of 50,000 HKD. | Only a Mastercard virtual card. Daily spending/withdrawal limit of 50,000 HKD, monthly spending limit of 1,000,000 HKD. HKD settlement, foreign currency transactions incur a 1.9% fee. | Highlight: The ZA Bank debit card only prints the cardholder's name and card number on the back, with no expiration date or security code, effectively reducing the chance of card fraud. |
| Cashback | None | 1% cashback on every transaction | |
| ATM Withdrawals | Card insertion for cash withdrawal | QR code scanning for cash withdrawal without a card, no fee for cash withdrawal within Hong Kong | |
| FPS Transfer | Supported | Supported | Livi Bank does not provide a digital ID for FPS, must use email or mobile number to register for FPS. |
| Deposit Currencies | HKD, RMB, USD | HKD, RMB, USD | |
| Deposit Methods | Easy Deposit, FPS, account number, cross-border remittance | eDDA deposit, FPS, account number, cross-border transfer from mainland bank | "Easy Deposit" and "eDDA" are the same thing, which is "Electronic Direct Debit Authorization," allowing direct binding to other bank accounts under one's name for transfer operations, eliminating the need to enter bank details each time. |
| Transfer Function | Besides local transfers, can also use Wise for overseas remittance | Local transfers / remittance to mainland | |
| Credit Card Repayment Function | Supported | Supported | |
| Time Deposits and Interest Rates | HKD 12-month time deposit annual interest rate 3.31%; RMB 12-month time deposit interest rate 1.5%; USD 12-month time deposit interest rate 0.2%; minimum deposit amount 1 yuan | HKD 12-month time deposit annual interest rate 2.4% (amount 500—200,000); HKD 12-month time deposit annual interest rate 3.5% (amount over 200,000) | Data as of March 18, 2023 |
| Deposit Protection | Member of the Deposit Protection Scheme, each depositor is protected up to 500,000 HKD | Member of the Deposit Protection Scheme, each depositor is protected up to 500,000 HKD | |
| Mainland Consumption | No such function | Has UnionPay QR code function, can scan to consume at mainland UnionPay merchants, supports both scanning and being scanned | |
| Commercial Bank Account | Yes | Yes | The account holder must have a Hong Kong company entity, be the actual owner, director, or ultimate controller of the company, and must hold a Hong Kong ID. |
During the registration process, the operation of ZA Bank was quite smooth and seamless, while Livi Bank experienced several network errors along the way. I used the "Samsung Connect" overseas data service built into my Samsung phone, with virtual SIM technology, and the daily data package in Hong Kong was only 8.8 yuan (first 10G high-speed data, followed by unlimited low-speed data). Later, I switched to using the free Wi-Fi at the subway station to get through, which might be related. All retail banks and virtual banks have a case review mechanism for account opening. If the account opening fails due to various issues, one can call the bank to request a re-examination of the account application.
Both of the above digital banks are personal accounts and are not suitable for commercial nature payments for cross-border e-commerce business. Those with conditions can register for their commercial accounts.
In July 2023, after WeChat Pay announced the full opening of binding overseas cards, the Mastercard and Visa cards in Hong Kong could be smoothly linked to WeChat Wallet for daily consumption. However, in early August, when trying to bind an overseas card again, a prompt appeared stating, "Users with mainland China ID are temporarily not supported to add international bank cards, please switch to a mainland China bank card." This result should have been predictable; the full opening of international bank card binding was originally intended to facilitate daily payments for foreigners coming to China, but it instead allowed the so-called "Mastercard U Card" related to virtual currencies, which are rampant in the market, to exploit the loophole. It is speculated that this may be the reason why WeChat took control measures.
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