China, India and Malaysia accounts: upcoming foreign exchange enhancements

Last updated: 8 October 2020

In November, we’re continuing our system upgrades to provide you with more information on your FX transactions from accounts in China, India, and Malaysia. We’ll continue to introduce these enhancements to additional markets through the remainder of this year and into 2021.

You may be impacted if you are using an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system or automated account reconciliation program for your electronic statements.

The following new fields will be introduced into your account statements:

1. HSBC mid-market rate:
The mid-market rate indicates the midpoint between the prevailing rates at which HSBC could buy or sell one currency against another in the interbank market. It’s based on the exchange rate market for each currency we offer, so it fluctuates in accordance with market conditions.

We provide this rate for information purposes only, as it does not include our risk appetite, the costs and charges we incur when conducting the transaction, or our commercial return.

2. FX booking timestamp:
In addition to the mid-market rate information, we’ll provide the booking timestamp to help you understand the time of your foreign currency booking.

Here’s what the new narrative will look like in Account Information transactions pages:

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Please note: in some instances, we will change the way we display the direction of the exchange rate to align with the mid-market rate. You may notice this change before you see the mid-market rate and FX booking timestamp.

This enhancement will be applied on statements in the following file formats (space permitting): HSBCnet Account Information Excel exports, MT940/942, BAI2, CSV, camt.052/053 and FINSTA.

Will I see the new foreign exchange information for all my transactions?

The new information will be available for the majority of your incoming and outgoing foreign exchange transactions. However, in certain exceptional scenarios this may not be available.

Additional changes for Malaysia

In November, we’ll be introducing the mid-market rate in HSBCnet’s Get Rate and Preview exchange rate screens.* The mid-market rate helps you assess the currency conversion rate offered for your payments and transfers.

Here’s what the new screen will look like:

(select image to enlarge)

Find out more

You can learn more about HSBC’s foreign exchange rates by selecting the ‘?’ icon in Get Rate and Preview Rate screens on HSBCnet.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your local HSBCnet Support Centre.