HSBC account - transferring money back to the UK

5POSTS

5 years ago

Hi all,

I'm going to be employed in China soon, they will pay in RMB and sort out my tax for me. I believe they will help me open an ICBC bank account.

I will need to get the money back to UK somehow. A friend suggested HSBC Premier account but there is a minimum requirement of 100,000RMB to keep the account, I will need the money quicker than I can accumulate that amount.

I was thinking of opening a standard HSBC UK account, and a standard HSBC China account, but I'm unsure if they will let me transfer money between these accounts. I've been getting vague answers from my chat enquiries, and due to Covid there's no-one at branches to advise. Does anyone have experience with transferring money via HSBC?

Or does anyone have any alternative suggestion (another bank) getting my monthly wage back to the UK?

Many thanks

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tomtom1992 New member

7POSTS

5 years ago

Hi,

I'm not fully up to scratch with transferring money back home yet myself. But from the little research I've done.

1. You have to go into your local Chinese bank and have them transfer it over. It can take time and you will be charged by both your Chinese and UK bank.

2. I believe you can transfer by alipay (Chinese app everyone uses to pay for things). This is quicker and less charges I believe. Worth taking a look at this.

Are you in China at the moment?

BritishChineseGuy New member

5POSTS

5 years ago

Hi tomtom,

nah I'm still in UK. That's the hassle because I can't make queries in China. From I've gathered, the first option is actually a painful process because you need to pass checks before you're allowed to move money. The fee would be for transfer (from China) and conversion (UK bank converting RMB to £).

I'm not sure Alipay is an option: https://www.travelchinacheaper.com/how- … lly-alipay Apparently you have to be a Chinese citizen to transfer.

The article is right on one thing, it's a hassle to move money out of China!

tomtom1992 New member

7POSTS

5 years ago

Yeah bank transfer is a hassle and can take time by the looks off it. I've heard up to an hour each time.

Perhaps if you know Chinese national or make friends with one, you can transfer them the money on alipay and they can transfer to your British bank account. Best to check first if there is any restrictions on doing that, need to be careful with breaking rules in China haha. I'll do some more digging when I get time and get back to you.

When are you expecting to move? I'm guessing your stuck for the time being till the ban is lifted?

zweetsal New member

9POSTS

5 years ago

Hi there,

You can try to open the HSBC advance account in both countries and make the transfer between them. I'd suggest you create an account in the UK and here when you arrive in China, then link both the accounts.

Hope it helps!

1 member reacted to this post

BritishChineseGuy New member

5POSTS

5 years ago

I was looking into HSBC Advance. Does it really work?

If it does, then I will be greatly relieved!

THANKS

ladivo779 Guest

0POSTS

5 years ago

You might still be able to open an HSBC Premier account even if you don't have the minimum requirement. However, that means a penalty that is charged to your account each month. I don't know what that penalty would be in China, but it would allow you to use all the facilities of Premier such as instant overseas transfers between HSBC accounts without any charges. In Indonesia that penalty is about £13 per month, it's higher in Malaysia so probably it's going to be quite a bit more in China.

The way HSBC works is that if you have accounts in more than one country, you can select one of then to be the primary country account. So for example, if you have savings in an HSBC account in the UK which qualify to make it a Premier account, then you can automatically open a Premier account in other countries (except for Taiwan and Indonesia), and you wouldn't need to reach the required limit to have one in the other countries.

But as I said, you might still be able to open a Premier account in China even with very little savings in that account if you don't mind paying the penalty.

1 member reacted to this post