Customers sending payments to Malaysia: new mandatory Purpose of Payment requirement

Last updated: 3 May 2017

In compliance with Bank Negara Malaysia regulations, all incoming payment instructions to Malaysia must now include a valid Purpose of Payment code. As such, when you create payments to Malaysian beneficiaries on HSBCnet, please state clearly the applicable purpose of payment (for example, payments for goods, services, dividends, intra-company financing, capital injection, or any other purpose, as applicable). You may need to specify the split between payments for goods and services if they are included in a single payment instruction.

Effective immediately, payments to beneficiary banks in Malaysia (including accounts held with HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad/HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad) that do not include a valid purpose of payment may be returned/rejected by the local payments clearing system.*

On HSBCnet, the purpose of payment to Malaysian accounts can be included in either the ‘Information for the beneficiary’ or ‘Instruction to bank’ fields.

To make sure your payments to Malaysia are processed efficiently, please follow the guidelines outlined in the table and images below:

Filed name	Input details		Line limits	Character limits
Information for the beneficiary	/REMI/	Optional 5 digit Purpose Code/Purpose of Payment description	Purpose of payment information can be included up to maximum of 4 lines	24 alphanumeric characters per line
Instruction to bank	/REC/	Optional 5 digit Purpose Code/Purpose of Payment description	Purpose of payment information can be included up to maximum of 5 lines	20 alphanumeric characters per line
Please note, for payments that cover various goods and/or services, you will need to specify each of the purposes in a new line in the payment instruction.

Information for the beneficiary example:

(Select image to enlarge)

Instruction to bank example:

(Select image to enlarge)

Select here to view a complete list of Malaysian Purpose of Payment codes >

If you submit payment files using HSBCnet’s File Upload service, or HSBC Connect/SWIFT, please contact your local Client Services team for the most recent Message Implementation Guide (MIG).

For assistance on creating payment instructions on HSBCnet, please contact your local HSBCnet Support Centre.

* Returned payments may be subject to additional repair charges. Please check with your local bank representative for details.