Close

 

Updated HSBCnet payments service: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We’re redesigning the HSBCnet payments service to give you a more streamlined, easy-to-use payment creation experience. The following FAQs will help you create payments and understand the key changes on the updated HSBCnet screens.

1. What are the changes to the ‘Debit account’ field?

The ‘Debit account’ field will be called ‘Pay from’ on the new screens and now allows you to change the debit account during the payment creation process.

This new drop-down field displays more information than before, including: balance, account currency, country and institution. You can see all accounts that you have permission to view on HSBCnet. When searching for a specific account, the search results will display as you type in the account name.

When making a SEPA payment, you’ll only be able to select a debit account that you can make a SEPA payment from. The same goes for ACH and Priority Payments. This means your accounts that fall outside of SEPA restrictions won’t be displayed.

When you’re making an ACH payment, you’ll only be able to select a debit account from the same country as the account you selected when creating the payment.


2. What are the changes to the Beneficiary Account Number and IBAN fields?

Beneficiary details can now be added in the new ‘Pay to’ section of the updated screens. The field names and validation rules have been updated:

Current HSBCnet field name	New HSBCnet field name
Beneficiary Account Number or IBAN	Account Number or IBAN
Beneficiary Account Number

For payments where the beneficiary’s IBAN is mandatory:
The new screens don’t include the ‘Require IBAN validation’ checkbox. HSBCnet will automatically validate the IBAN that you provide. If the IBAN number is invalid, you won’t be able to proceed with the payment and will see an error message.

Please note, the beneficiary’s IBAN is required for EUR Priority Payments to beneficiaries in the UK. IBAN should also be used for payments to beneficiaries in Brazil Chile, the European Economic Area (EEA) and European Union (EU).

For payments where the beneficiary’s account number is mandatory:
Unless the code ‘CHQB’ is used in the ‘Instruction code’ field, the beneficiary’s account number is required. This is introduced to follow international payment requirements. If you’re using templates with blank beneficiary accounts, the following options are available:

• Enter the beneficiary account (or identifier) information before submitting the payment
• Edit the existing template and update the beneficiary account (or identifier) details.

These validation rules also apply to any intermediary bank account number provided.


3. Has the ‘Charges’ field been updated and will it impact templates?

The ‘Charges’ field is now a drop-down list with 3 options: ‘Beneficiary pays’, ‘Sender pays’ and ‘Share’. The default setting for this field is ‘Share’.

This option may not be available in cases when there is a charge automatically applied (due to regulations etc.) E.g. For payments to or from the European Economic Area, ‘Share’ may be the only option available. This is in line with the European Payment Services Directive (also known as ‘PSD2’) regulations. 

If your general template includes a different charge option, we’ll update it automatically to ‘Share’ when you create a payment. If you’re using a restricted template, then you’ll need to update the ‘Charges’ field manually.


4. How do I specify the correct value date (the processing date) for my payment on the new screens?

You now have 3 options when selecting a value date for your payment:

1. As soon as possible: the payment system will select the earliest value date available (considering local cut-off and processing cycle times). If you don’t select an option, this will be used as the default.
2. On a specific date: specify the date by in-putting text or selecting from the calendar.
3. At regular intervals: specify the recurring intervals at which you’d like your payment to be processed.

When you select a specific value date, it must:

• Not be earlier than today
• Not be later than the cut-off time today
• Not be more than 45 days in the future
• Be on a bank working day in both the debit account and currency location(s)

5. Has there been a change to my payment reference?

The field name and validation rules have been updated:

Current HSBCnet field name	New HSBCnet field name
Reference for your account	Your reference

This field supports the SWIFT character set. If you don’t give a reference, the payment IRN (Instruction Reference Number) will be automatically populated.

For US Accounts (debit and/or credit), this field cannot start or end with a slash ‘/’ and must not contain two consecutive slashes ‘//’.


6. Can I still specify the payment amount in the equivalent currency?

Yes, you can specify the amount using two options: ‘By currency’ and ‘By currency equivalent’. The options look like this:

Your default currency, and the last 4 currencies you used, will be available at the top of the drop-down list so you can quickly select your currency.

To avoid any errors, you’ll need to update any ‘Restricted’ templates by removing the ‘equivalent amount’, or by creating a new ‘Restricted’ template.

7. Are there any changes to the ‘Information for the beneficiary’ or ‘Instruction to bank fields’?

Yes. You can continue to enter free text in these fields if you need to, but if you want to enter a codeword in either of these fields, you must first type a slash “/” to be able to select a codeword.

8. Why can’t I select my ACH Payment set code of choice?

Depending on the date that you selected for your payment, you’ll only see the ‘Payment set’ codes that are available for that payment date.

9. What are the changes to the Eurozone-SEPA payments?

These are the changes you’ll see:

• Extended character limits for Beneficiary Name and Address fields:
  The new HSBCnet payment screens will accept up to 70 characters in the Beneficiary Name field and 140 characters in the Beneficiary Address field.
  
  
• Beneficiary IBAN and Beneficiary Bank BIC validation:
  New validation is being introduced to ensure that Beneficiary IBAN and Beneficiary Bank BIC is from a SEPA enabled country only.
  
  
• Maximum amount allowed to be in line with SEPA clearing system:
  Payments initiated on-screen in HSBCnet, or via Instruction Level Authorisation (ILA) files, will be subject to the maximum amount for an individual payment allowed by the SEPA clearing system.

10. What happens to my Standing Instructions, Forward-dated and pending payments when the change happens?

Your existing Standing Instructions and Forward-dated payments will continue to be processed on their respective dates.

Your Payment templates will retain their content and automatically update to the new screens.

 

Back to top | Close