It is well known that HSBC Hong Kong is the top choice for many offshore investors looking to bank in Hong Kong. It's also a crucial haven for Mainlanders looking to buy Hong Kong stocks and bypass foreign exchange restrictions. Ever since Hong Kong banks began allowing account opening with just an Exit-Entry Permit (travel permit), there has been a massive influx of people crossing the border to open accounts.
However, just a few days ago, HSBC suddenly announced a new policy: Starting January 1, 2026, new HSBC One accounts opened by non-Hong Kong ID holders will be charged a 100 HKD monthly service fee if their Total Relationship Balance (TRB) is less than 10,000 HKD. See the chart below for details:
To avoid these hefty service fees, I strongly suggest that anyone intending to do business in Hong Kong or who has large annual currency exchange needs should hurry up and open an account now. Otherwise, if your account balance drops too low, you'll get hit with management fees, which is not cost-effective at all.
I suspect that because so many people have been opening accounts solely to bypass the mainland's forex controls (the $50,000 annual limit) and to trade Hong Kong stocks—often leaving the accounts with low balances—HSBC decided to roll out this policy to make a profit off this trend.
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