FPS payments eased with HKID number

The Faster Payment System will allow residents to link their Hong Kong ID number to their bank account for receiving payments from institutions, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said.

Citizens can link their HKID number to a bank account for receiving funds by registering through online or mobile banking at banks from December 6. They can do it online or through mobile banking depending on their needs.

Given the HKID number is a piece of sensitive personal information, this new function is not intended to handle person-to-person payments. It will only be used by institutions that already possess the HKID number of the recipients of the payments.

After linking their HKID number to a bank account, residents can receive payments from institutions through their HKID number. This is more efficient than receiving payments by check, allowing institutions to make payments to the recipients such as paying salaries.

It ensures correct payment to a recipient without the need for the recipient to disclose the bank account number, and it is not necessary for the recipient to update the paying institutions when switching the bank account linked with the HKID number for receiving funds.

Institutions interested in making fund transfers through this means can approach people using FPS to make arrangements.

In October, the average daily turnover reached 452,000 real-time transactions, worth HK$4.4 billion and 44 million yuan. That was nearly double the figure for December 2019 and eight times that of October 2018, the first full month after the launch.

Edmond Lau, senior executive director of the HKMA, said: "The FPS recorded 6.35 million registrations by using mobile number, email address and FPS identifier to link up accounts for receiving payments in only two years since its launch."