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Hong Kong SAR Faster Payment System: summary of key changes for ACH Credit

Comparison between the current ACH Credit and upcoming ACH Credit via FPS processing
Current ACH Credit
ACH Credit via FPS
(effective on 15 July 2019)
Payment value day
Supports value date on Monday to Friday
(excluding public holiday).
Supports value date on Monday to Saturday
(excluding public holiday).
Payment cut-off time
Local Hong Kong SAR time (GMT+8)

- At 17:55 on the prior day
(if the prior day is Monday to Friday).

or

- At 12:30 on the prior day
(if the prior day is a Saturday).

Public holidays excluded.

- For payments value dated on Monday to Friday:
At 17:55 on the same working day.

- For payments value dated on Saturday:
At 17:55 on the prior working day (Monday to Friday, public holidays excluded).

 Public holidays excluded.

Processing cycle
Payments are processed and debited on the value date.

- For payments value dated on the same working day (Monday to Friday):
Transactions will be processed and debited during the same day.

- For payments value dated on the next working day (Monday to Saturday):
Payments will be processed and debited in the morning of the value date.

Beneficiary name
Maximum 20 characters.

Maximum 140 characters (subject to file format) and special characters are supported. You'll still be able to submit payment instruction up to 20 characters.

Note: If you choose to send funds to your beneficiary using their account number, the 'Beneficiary name' field will also become mandatory in your ACH Credit instructions. You're responsible for ensuring that the name of the beneficiary that you input in your payment instructions is identical to their name registered with the beneficiary bank. This is to minimise risks of your ACH payment being rejected by the beneficiary bank due to a mismatch of the beneficiary name.

Beneficiary information option
Bank account number only.

- Bank account number.

or

- Alias (maximum 34 characters).

Supported payment currencies
HKD and RMB.
HKD and RMB.
Maximum payment amount
(subject to transaction limit set by your organisation)
No transaction threshold.
No transaction threshold.
Time when funds are debited from your account
On the value date.

On the value date.

Note: Funds will be debited from your account when HSBC or Hang Seng Bank receives your authorised payment instructions on the same day. Please ensure that your bank account has sufficient funds for your payment.
Time when ACH transaction fees are debited from your account
On the value date of ACH instructions.
Next working day (Monday to Friday) after the value date.
Electronic Payment Report delivery cycle
Between the end of payment instruction day and next working day.

Between the payment instruction day and next working day. This is subject to payment instruction time, report turnaround time can be as low as 3 hours and deliver before 20:30.

Credit Return Report delivery cycle
End of day (Monday to Friday).
End of day (Monday to Sunday).
Payment Statistics Report delivery cycle
End of day.

Report generation frequency is subject to your selection on the Autopay Services Application Form.

End of day.

Report generation frequency is subject to your selection on the Autopay Services Application Form.

The following key changes will be effective on 15 July 2019:

1. HSBCnet ACH Credit payment screens:

When you initiate an ACH Credit payment from a Hong Kong SAR-domiciled account, you'll see the following key changes:

  • New look and feel:
    We've created a new and modern interface that is more user-friendly and will make your day-to-day payment activities a lot easier.
  • Get Rate Authorisation (select image to enlarge)

    • Creating payment using the ‘alias’ option:
      You'll have the option to choose how to input your beneficiary information, using either the the new ‘alias’ feature or name and account number.

      Note: Alias refers to email address, mobile phone number, or a Faster Payment System ID registered by the beneficiary (i.e. FPS Identifier).


2. File Upload service
:

With HSBCnet File Upload Service or HSBC Connect, you'll be able to send ACH Credit payments to beneficiaries using their alias, instead of their bank account number and name. If your organisation plans to send ACH Credit payment files using beneficiaries' alias, please contact your Client Services representative to obtain the new file specification requirements in our Message Implementation Guides (MIG) as soon as practicable.


3. Same-day processing:


ACH Credit payments from Hong Kong SAR-domiciled accounts can be value dated and processed on the same day (Monday to Friday).

Note: payment authorisation must also be on the same value date.

Same-day processing is not available for Saturdays. Payments value dated on a Saturday must be submitted before the cut-off time on the prior working day.

Please note that for same-day payment processing, funds will also be debited from your account at payment authorisation. Please ensure that sufficient funds for your transactions are available in your account at the time of payment authorisation. If there are insufficient funds, your payment instructions may be rejected.


4. Beneficiary name:

As per the FPS clearing requirements, if you send funds to your beneficiary using their account number, it becomes mandatory for you to also include their name in the correct field. HSBC or Hang Seng Bank will reject such payment instruction that don’t include a beneficiary name.

In order to minimise risks of your ACH payment being rejected by the beneficiary bank due to a mismatch of the beneficiary name, you're responsible for ensuring that the name of the beneficiary that you've provided in the payment instructions is identical to their name registered with the beneficiary bank.

Please note that in the past, beneficiary name was not a mandatory field and the system supported a field length of up to 20 characters only.

From 15 July, the FPS supports up to 140 characters for the beneficiary name field in your ACH Credit instructions. To include beneficiary names of up to 140 characters in your payment files, please contact your Client Services representative to obtain the new MIG.


5. Payment advising:


If you use an alias in a FPS fund transfer, the ‘Beneficiary account’ field will be replaced with a ‘Beneficiary alias’ field in your advices. There will also be a new field called ‘Beneficiary alias type’ that will contain the following codes:

      • MOBILE NUMBER for mobile number
      • EMAIL ID for email address
      • FPS IDENTIFIER for Faster Payment System Identifier


6. New ACH Credit related reports on HSBCnet:

To support transactions made using the beneficiary’s alias and additional details, we're introducing a new set of reports for ACH Credit via the FPS. These new reports will be in a new format and contain new fields as well as enhanced existing ones.

Please refer to the below table for the listing of new reports and data files:

Report name
Report Level
Report ID (HSBC)
Report ID (Hang Seng)
Autopay Electronic Payment Report
Account Level
HKR101NEW
HKR103NEW
Payment Code Level
HKR101PNEW
HKR103PNEW
Autopay Credit Return Report
Account Level
HKR105NEW
HKR107NEW
Payment Code Level
HKR105PNEW
HKR107PNEW
Autopay Payment Statistics Report
Account Level
Not Applicable (N/A)
HKR110NEW
Payment Code Level
HKR109PNEW
HKR110PNEW
Autopay Electronic Payment Data File
Payment Code Level
HKR205PNEW
HKR205PNEW
Autopay Credit Return Data File
Account Level
HKR201NEW
HKR201NEW
Payment Code Level
HKR201PNEW
HKR201PNEW
Autopay Payment Statistics Data File
Payment Code Level
HKR203PNEW
HKR203PNEW

If you have an automated reconciliation process in place for your HKD and/or RMB accounts in Hong Kong SAR for Autopay reports/data files, please review the full details on the changes to reports available here, and data file specifications available here.

If you're using HSBC Connect, full details on the changes to reports and data files is available here.

To allow you time to transition to our new reports, we'll continue to make the currently generating reports and data files available to you until further notice. At this time, we're estimating the current reports to be available until 31 January 2020. We'll communicate the exact date to you in due course.


7. HS
BCnet Account Information service:

We've introduced new statement narratives and transaction codes for transactions that will be processed through the FPS.


8. Statement reporting:


If you have an automated reconciliation process in place for your HKD and/or RMB accounts, detailed information on new statement narratives is available here.

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