Hong Kong & Macao Residents: Gan Access to GBA Cross-Border Accounts

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The proxy witness bank account opening service designed for residents of Hong Kong and Macau to facilitate payments across mainland China has now been extended to the six remaining cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area that previously lacked coverage.

As of yesterday, the service is available at selected bank branches in Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing. This expansion follows its initial availability in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, according to the provincial branch of China’s central bank. The service operates through a collaborative system involving “proxy witnesses” from local banks in Hong Kong and Macau, along with “remote account opening” from mainland financial institutions. This setup allows residents from these regions to open mainland bank accounts conveniently, right at their local doorstep.

An official from the central bank’s Guangdong branch highlighted that this initiative enriches payment options for Hong Kong and Macau residents studying, working, or residing in mainland China and fosters greater financial integration within the Greater Bay Area.

A Hong Kong resident who recently opened an account at a local Bank of China branch shared, “I can open a mainland bank account at a branch near my home. I just need to link my bank card when I visit the mainland, and I can pay as easily as local residents.”

Back in 2019, the central bank’s Guangdong branch initiated a pilot program allowing Hong Kong and Macau residents to open bank accounts capable of linking with mainland mobile payment systems, enhancing their access to convenient shopping and payment options across China.

Major banks including Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, Bank of East Asia, Bank of Communications, HSBC, and Standard Chartered have received approval for this service. As of June 30, approximately 472,000 personal accounts have been opened under this program, with total transaction volumes surpassing 40 billion yuan (around 5.6 billion USD).