FAQs

You may contact our Customer Service Representative through the below channel:

Retail:

You are eligible to open a personal account with us if you are

1. A Hong Kong resident who holds a valid Hong Kong Identity Card (2018 version) with age 18 or above;
2. Holding a Hong Kong phone number & Hong Kong residential address;
3. Non-U.S. Resident/ Permanent Resident card /Green Card Holder/Resident Alien

SME:

Your company is eligible to open an SME account if your company is incorporated and registered in HK

• HKD saving account services
• Fund transfer & payment via Faster Payment System (FPS)
• SME loan service

More services will be available in the near future, stay with us!

Retail:

Simply follow the steps below and you will be able to enjoy our seamless banking services. It takes around 8 minutes to open a savings account!

1. Download PAObank APP here or simply visit your mobile device App store (iOS: App Store/ Android: Google Play) and search “PAObank” for our APP!
2. Hong Kong ID scanning and selfie taking to verify applicants' identity
3. Input your personal information
4. Once approval completed, your savings account will be created!

SME:

Simply follow the steps below and you will be able to enjoy our seamless

1. Download PAObank SME APP here or simply visit your mobile device App store (iOS: App Store/ Android: Google Play) and search “PAObank SME” for our APP!
2. Hong Kong Identity Card scanning and selfie taking to verify applicant's identity
3. Input your personal and company information
4. Share the QR code to other Director(s) and Shareholder(s) to input information. (If applicable)
5. After your application is approved, your savings account will be created!

You are eligible to open a personal account with us if you are:

1. A Chinese Citizen who holds a valid (a) China Resident Identity Card (second generation), (b) Hong Kong and Macau Exit-Entry Permit, and (c) original PDF of Entry and Exit Record (without a password), and (d) is aged 18 or above; and
2. Holding a valid mainland China phone number, being able to successfully receive text messages and phone calls within Hong Kong; and
3. A non-U.S. Resident/ non-U.S. Permanent Resident cardholder /non-U.S. Green Card Holder/non-U.S. Resident Alien; and
4. The customer must be physically present in the territory of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region when opening the account.

*If the customer also holds a Hong Kong Identity Card, the customer is required to use his/her Hong Kong Identity Card to open the account.

• 1. HKD savings account services
• 2. Fund transfer & payment via Faster Payment System (FPS)

*More services will soon be available!

For retail customers:

Simply follow the steps below and you will be able to enjoy our seamless banking services.

1. Download via scanning the QR code on PAObank's official website or simply visit your mobile device App store (iOS: App Store/ Android: Google Play) and search “PAObank” for our APP!
2. Complete the verification procedures on our APP: (a) Scan your China Resident Identity Card and HK-Macau Exit-Entry Permit, (b) upload the original PDF of the Entry and Exit Record (without a password), and (c) take a selfie to verify your identity.
3. Input your personal information on our APP

Once approval is completed, your savings account will be created!

When taking the photo, you need to:

1. Look straight into the camera,
2. Eyes must be at the same level as the camera,
3. Ensure adequate lighting with no shadows or glare, and
4. Use a plain and clean background.

To protect your account, your password should:

1. contain 8-16 digits and letters
2. contain at least one uppercase and one lowercase letter
3. contain one special character
4. not use 5 or more same and consecutive digits or letters
5. not use the username as your password
6. not use the password that being used for past 3 times

If you no longer wish to receive any direct marketing materials or messages from the PAObank, please login our APP and find "Menu" > "Settings" > "Notification channel" or contact our 24 Hours General Enquiry & Technical Support Hotline: (852) 3762 9900 to opt out.

Please be noted that once you have disabled this service, we will not be able to notify any latest information to you directly.

If you suspect any unusual account activities, please contact our 24 Hours General Enquiry & Technical Support Hotline: (852) 3762 9900.

You may also leave a message to us on our live chat session, our customer service officers will contact you on the next available time.

We have recently upgraded our Retail Mobile APP which would provide a more friendlier and smoother user journey. All retail banking services are still provided in the new Mobile APP.

*More services will soon be available!

The new Retail Mobile APP retains all the security features and defence mechanisms against any jailbroken / rooted devices to ensure that you can use the APP only under a secure and protected environment. There is also no change on our internal policy, mechanism and retention period in managing customers' personal information with the new APP.

You can refer to "New Retail APP" in the "Education Centre" page, or contact our customer service hotline (852) 3762 9900.

1）If your maturity instruction is "no auto-renewal at maturity", the principal and the accrued interest of your time deposit will be credited to your savings account on the maturity date.

2）If your maturity instruction is "auto-renewal with principal only at maturity", your time deposit will automatically renew with only the principal amount for the same deposit term upon maturity, while the accrued interest will be credited to your savings account. The interest rate for the renewed term will be the prevailing fixed deposit interest rate on the renewal date.

3）If your maturity instruction is "auto-renewal with principal and interest at maturity", your time deposit will automatically renew with both the principal amount and the accrued interest for the same deposit term upon maturity and at the prevailing fixed deposit interest rate on the renewal date.

"FPS" is the acronym of Faster Payment System which is a system launched by Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in September, 2018. The main functions including:

You are advised to always verify the payment details (including the recipient’s identity) of every single transaction before making payment.

You can follow the steps below to view the e-Statement:

Step 1: Login to your PAObank APP;
Step 2: Select “Menu" > "Monthly E-statement” on APP homepage;
Step 3: Select the months that you would like to view on the e-Statement

The Corporation must be a Hong Kong registered company with year of incorporation more than 1 year.

No limitation.

Yes, bank will assess not only applicant's credit reference but also personal credit worthiness of all guarantors/owner/partners up consent obtained

Trade-Connect Loan amount ranges from HKD$100,000 to $10,000,000.

Borrower has to open a savings account with PAObank for monthly direct debit repayment purpose.

Default interest is charged at 3% per month on the overdue amount from the date of default until we actually receive repayment in full.

Yes, early settlement is allowed.

Phase 1 of Open API has been launched and providing product information for retail customers. Please visit the link below to the Open API platform:
https://www.paob.com.hk/en/charges_prime-rate.html

Designated Device is the mobile device designated by you to use your account and our services, and to enter into transactions. With the introduction of Designated Device, you may now enjoy our services and enter into transactions by logging on to the PAObank APP with your 6-digit PIN or with biometric authentication, allowing you to enjoy a more secured yet seamless banking experience.

To ensure the safety and security of your account, you are required to activate the Designated Device in order to perform any transactions or give any instructions via the PAObank APP (for example, initiating a fund transfer).

You may only activate one mobile device as the Designated Device. When you are logging in from mobile devices other than your Designated Device, you can choose to designate the new device as your Designated Device. Once such designation is complete, the original Designated Device will be deactivated automatically.

To protect the safety of your account, only one person may have access to the Designated Device at any one point in time. When another person has logged in to the PAObank APP from your Designated Device, your Designated Device will be de-activated automatically. You will be required to activate the Designated Device again during your next login.

During the activation process, you will be required to perform a one-time SMS verification and input One-Time Password for authentication. After that, you will be asked to verify your identity by way of facial recognition.

You may follow the below steps to activate the Designated Device:

1. Download the most updated version of the PAObank APP from the Google Play™
Store, App Store or the designated link from our website
2. Login to the PAObank APP from your designated mobile device
3. Select “Setup Now”
4. Perform SMS OTP authentication
5. Perform Facial Recognition verification
6. Setup your Security PIN
7. Select the authentication method for logging-in and for authorising transactions
8. Complete the setup of Designated Device

If your Designated Device is lost, we recommend you to contact our customer service representative to suspend your Designated Device immediately. Once suspended, your original Designated Device will be disabled and you may re-activate it again upon your next successful login on the new mobile device.

If your mobile device does not support biometric authentication, you may not be able to enable this service.

When you activate biometric authentication service, any biometric credentials stored on your mobile device can be used to log on to the PAObank APP. Therefore, you are strongly recommended to store your own biometric credential only on your mobile device.

If your mobile device cannot meet our security requirement, you may not be able to activate the Designated Device on your mobile device. If you have met any difficulties during the activation of Designated Device, please contact our customer service representative for assistance.

Designated Device is currently supporting both retail and SME customers.

As per Hong Kong banking regulator’s expectation, the Bank is required to comply with customer due diligence (“CDD”) requirements in accordance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing related laws.

Under the CDD requirements, the Bank will collect information from customer at account opening, at periodic CDD review, at trigger event and may from time to time as required, for the Bank to develop an understanding of the customer’s account activities; the amount of customer information collected may vary, depending on the money laundering and terrorist financing risk posed by the customer.

Currently the below types of remittance services and channels are provided for Retail customers only :
- Inward Remittance via Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) from local banks
- International / Cross-border Inward Remittance via SWIFT from overseas banks / mainland China banks

When you remit fund from other local banks (non FPS) to your savings account, please choose local remittance and provide below information :

PAObank Bank and Account Information :
Bank name: PAObank
Bank code: 392
Branch no.: 752
SWIFT CODE: PONCHKHHXXX (if required)
Account Name : Your English account name registered with PAObank
Account Number : Your savings account number at PAObank
Account Currency : Your savings account's currency (e.g. HKD)

When you remit fund from overseas banks to your savings account, please choose overseas remittance through SWIFT and provide below information :

1. PAObank Bank and Account Information :
Bank name: PAObank
SWIFT CODE: PONCHKHHXXX
Bank Address: Room 1903-1904, Floor 19, NEO, 123 Hoi Bun Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Account Name : Your English account name registered with PAObank
Account Number : Your savings account number at PAObank
Account Currency : Your savings account's currency (e.g. HKD)

2. Intemediary Bank Information :
Bank name: Citibank N.A. Hong Kong
Branch name: Hong Kong Branch
SWIFT CODE: CITIHKHX
Bank Address: 50/F., Champion Tower, 3 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong

You can remit from below currencies via below channels. Conversion from remitting currency to the currency of your savings account specified in remittance instruction using prevailing exchange rates from remitting bank or intermediary bank will be applied if required :
- Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) : HKD
- SWIFT : AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH/CNY, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NOK, NZD, SEK, SGD, USD

PAObank will reject any inward remittance other than the currencies specified in respective channels.

Inward Remittance Cut-off time is as below :
From Mondays to Fridays (Excluding Hong Kong public holidays), instructions received before 16:00 will be processed on same business day. If the instruction is received after the cut-off time or during Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday, it will be processed on the following business day.

Fund will be deposited into your savings account only when the final payment is cleared, and any necessary checking is completed.

Remitting banks or intemediary banks may impose fees based on different circumstances. Please contact remitting banks / intermediary banks for details.
For PAObank's fees and charges, please refer to our service charges information from our website:
https://www.paob.com.hk/en/charges_prime-rate.html

Please contact our customer service hotline (852) 3762 9900 and we will work with you to return the funds to the owner.

The Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) is a reporting standard developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In order to help combat tax evasion and maintain the integrity of the tax system, financial institutions in participating countries/jurisdictions have committed to comply with the global standard of Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (“AEOI”).

According to the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2016 and subsequent amendments, all reporting financial institutions (include banks) in Hong Kong are required by law to implement the CRS and the AEOI framework.

You can find a full list of participating jurisdictions on the OECD CRS website.

According to the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2016 and subsequent amendments, the Bank is legally responsible to identify our customers’ tax residency status, including Hong Kong tax residents. The Bank will only report related information to customers’ local tax authority and the tax authority where they are tax resident. However, if you are not a tax resident in any other jurisdictions outside Hong Kong, the Bank will not report your account information to the HKIRD for transmission to any tax administration outside Hong Kong.

Customers need to provide the following information:

• Countries/jurisdictions of tax residence
• Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) for each jurisdiction
• Completed Self-Certification Form
• Supporting documentation may be required in certain cases

Self-Certification Form is a formal declaration you make in connection with your tax residency. The Bank may rely on the self-certification form from customers to confirm their tax residency.

Tax Residency / Jurisdiction of residence mean territory of which an individual or entity is liable to tax by reason of residence in the jurisdiction.

For more information, you may:

• Consult a professional tax advisor for personalized advice
• Visit the OECD Automatic Exchange Portal for detailed guidance

You need to provide the Bank with your personal information including your tax information. All such information provided by you shall be true, correct and accurate in all respects in relation to the facts pertaining. When there is a change or addition to the information, you have to update the Bank promptly by producing a new self-certificate.