Lucky start for some in race for crisp banknotes

Charlotte Lam

Hongkongers lined up yesterday for new or nearly new banknotes for lai sees (red packets) as three banks launched their annual exchange services ahead of the Lunar New Year.

HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong), and Standard Chartered extended opening hours from 8am to facilitate the yearly tradition.

HSBC's Mong Kok branch opened its indoor waiting area for the mostly elderly queuing up to get out of the cold.

Lai, one of the first customers, arrived at 7.30 am and got HK$4,000 in under 30 minutes - much quicker than expected.

A woman, Tam, traveled from Lai King with her daughter to get HK$10,000.

"It feels less crowded this year, some elderly have gone to the mainland for the holidays," Tam said.

Yvonne Chan, HSBC's cohead of retail distribution, said that despite the rising popularity of digital red packets via PayMe, demand for physical notes remains robust.

"Our stock of new notes has slightly increased and we believe it will be sufficient to meet demand," Chan said.

The bank has increased online reservation quotas and on-site ticketing for walk-ins. It is also offering new notes at Mong Kok, Kwun Tong and Tuen Mun ATMs.

BoC reported nearly 50 percent more reservations for notes this year.

Its BoC Pay app continues to offer the "Phone Lai See" service, allowing users to send up to 10 of them simultaneously.