AMCM working on HKD instant digital transfer across local banks

Instant bank wiring of Hong Kong Dollars will be possible with the next phase of the Easy Transfer function, Chan Sau San, president of the Monetary Authority of Macau has said.

Chan’s comment was made in reply to lawmaker Lei Chan U’s written inquiry on November 14, 2022.

The finance official did not give a specific date as to when the second phase of the function would be rolled out.

Apart from the instant transfer of Hong Kong Dollars between local banks, the second phase of the function will also facilitate transfer between banks and digital payment institutions such as Mpay and Alipay.

With the introduction of this update, the function will then allow users to transfer funds from their bank accounts to top up their wallets with digital payment platforms and make payments directly with funds from their bank account using another digital payment platform.

Although the function boasts instant bank wires, not all local banks have opted to provide the service. For example, OCBC Wing Hang Bank will collect and process all instructions either at the beginning or the end of each bank working day. It also does not provide transfer by phone number.

“In light of the new services, financial institutions may need to charge clients for certain transfer services, so as to maintain and constantly improve their quality of service,” Chan revealed, adding that his bureau will “as ever before maintain communications with financial institutions and encourage progress in their enhanced response to [public] desire for convenient financial services.”

Chan also said that the AMCM would monitor market needs and include more services for the Easy Transfer function. Studies about Easy Transfer between Macau and Hengqin will be conducted as well.

Chan also disclosed that since its launch in October 2022, 300,000 bank accounts have been recorded using the function. This is from 2.7 million transactions that were recorded during the same period, 60% of which were made outside bank hours.

The function was launched to the public in December 2021.

In his inquiry, Lei asked the AMCM president about the status of the function as well as whether there would be service charges applied in future. Related to this, he also asked if the AMCM had negotiated with financial institutions on the matter. Another question of his was about extending the function to Hengqin or even Guangdong. AL