Standard Chartered Bank ( Hong Kong ) ( SCBHK ) is launching the Faster Payment System ( FPS ) cross-border payment service for offshore financial institutions and paytech firms, supporting real-time, 24x7 payments with a transaction amount of up to HK$1 million ( or 1 million yuan ).

With this new service coming into effect immediately, SCBHK can help financial institutions and paytech firms outside Hong Kong to make cross-border payments to local entities through FPS, which allows real-time, 24x7 settlement throughout the year, including public holidays. Meanwhile, payments exceeding 1 million in HKD or CNY will continue to be settled through the Real-Time Gross Settlement ( RTGS ) system.

In this new model, SCBHK serves as a correspondent bank to receive cross-border payments from offshore financial institutions and PayTech firms through SWIFT, and then SCBHK makes credit transfers to the local end-recipients through FPS instead of RTGS as the conventional channel.

Anthony Lin, head of transaction banking, Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia, and global head of market management, Standard Chartered, comments: “SCBHK is proud to be one of the first batch of banks in Hong Kong to introduce this FPS cross-border payment service, facilitating fast, convenient, round-the-clock and secure cross-border payment settlement in lower costs for offshore financial institutions and paytech firms.

“This again exemplifies our outstanding role as a ‘super connector’ bank that is well-positioned to support clients’ cross-border banking needs. The new FPS capability also further consolidates the status of Hong Kong as an international financial centre, effectively enhancing the efficiency and settlement hours of low-value cross-border HKD and CNY payments.”