Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Account Verification Retrospective to January 2023

Golden Finance reported on May 27 that in response to the issue of "some banks in Hong Kong requiring a declaration to open investment accounts," the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) responded today, stating that the relevant regulatory requirements were issued to all authorized institutions on May 22. Materials provided by the HKMA indicate that registered institutions are required to implement three additional measures when opening and managing investment accounts for mainland investors, including: 1. Closing investment accounts opened using suspicious or forged documents, identifying customer investment accounts that were opened using suspicious or forged documents from January 2023 or any other period specified by the HKMA. Relevant documents include identification documents. 2. Closing inactive investment accounts with zero balance, specifically referring to investment accounts held by mainland investors that have no asset balance as of May 22, 2026 (reference date) and have had no activity initiated by the customer in the 12 months prior to the reference date. 3. When opening new investment accounts, obtaining a written declaration from the mainland investor confirming that all funds used to support investment activities and related settlements originate from legitimate sources outside mainland China. The relevant documents show that the additional regulatory measures apply only to investment accounts, including investment accounts within integrated bank accounts. Non-investment functions (such as ordinary savings, current and fixed deposits, payments, loans, and credit cards) are not within the scope of these measures. Additionally, the extra measures apply to individual customers and do not apply to corporate or institutional customers. (Cailian Press)