The People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority promote the launch of cross-border payment

In order to deepen the financial cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong and meet the needs of residents in both places for safe, efficient and convenient cross-border remittances, the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority jointly promote and support the People's Bank of China Clearing Corporation Limited and Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Company Limited to carry out the Mainland-Hong Kong Faster Payment System Interconnection Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as Cross-border Payment Link). The relevant matters are announced as follows:

1. Cross-border Payment Passmeans thatthe connection between the Mainland's online payment inter-bank clearing system andHong Kong'sFast Payment System" is used to provide real-time cross-border payment services to residents of the two places, subject to

the connection between the Mainland's online payment inter-bank clearing system andHong Kong'sFast Payment System, subject to

the connection between the Mainland's online payment inter-bank clearing system andHong Kong'sFast Payment System.

2. Cross-border Payment Passsupports the participating institutions of the two places' fast payment systems to provide convenient remittance services in RMB and Hong Kong dollars under current items for the residents of the two places, and supports the participating institutions of the two places to provide fast remittance services for business scenarios that benefit the integration of people's livelihood in the two places, such as salary payment, study abroad payment, medical payment, etc., on the basis of implementing relevant policies.

Third, Cross-border Payment Connectis another important measure taken by the central government to support Hong Kong's development, facilitate people's livelihood, and deepen financial cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong. It will be conducive to improving the efficiency and service level of cross-border payments between the two places, facilitating economic and trade activities and personnel exchanges between the two places, and supporting Hong Kong in enhancing its competitive advantages and consolidating its status as an international financial centre and offshore RMB business hub.

Fourth, the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will establish an effective collaboration mechanism for cross-border payment connectivity under the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on Mainland-Hong Kong Cross-border Payment Connectivity to ensure that relevant services operate in an orderly manner and comply with the respective laws, regulations and regulatory requirements of the two places.

V.The People's Bank of China Clearing Center and Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited will, in accordance with the principles of prudent, orderly and controllable risks, coordinate the participating institutions to provide safe and efficient cross-border payment services to the residents of the two places to ensure the smooth operation of the system and smooth business handling, and actively coordinate to resolve relevant issues.

Six. Institutions participating in the Cross-border Payment Pass must strictly comply with the relevant laws and regulations on anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, non-proliferation financing and cross-border funds settlement.

Seven,Cross-border Payment Passwill be launched onJune222025.

This is hereby announced.

The head of the relevant department of the People's Bank of China answered reporters' questions about the Cross-border Payment Pass

Q:What is the Cross-border Payment Pass? A: Cross-border payment refers to connecting the fast payment system in mainland China with the fast payment systems of other monetary authorities, formulating supporting policy arrangements, and providing efficient, convenient and secure cross-border payment services between residents in mainland China and overseas residents. The fast payment system is a retail financial infrastructure for clearing and settling fast payments for users. Compared with traditional payment systems, it has the characteristics of long operation time and real-time receipt of funds by the beneficiary. In 2010, the People's Bank of China guided the Clearing Center to build my country's fast payment system - online payment inter-bank clearing system, which supports users to handle inter-bank transfers anytime and anywhere through online banking and mobile banking, and the funds are received in real time. Q: What is the background of launching the cross-border payment with Hong Kong?

Answer: With the increasingly close exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong, economic and trade cooperation has become more frequent, and residents have strong consumption demand in the south and north, which has put forward higher requirements for the efficiency and security of cross-border payments and the rapid circulation of funds. The People's Bank of China focuses on cross-border payment needs and, together with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, has carried out the interconnection between the mainland's online payment interbank clearing system and the Hong Kong fast payment system "FPS", giving full play to the regulatory synergy and system advantages, opening up fund clearing channels, improving payment efficiency, reducing transaction costs, promoting economic and trade activities and personnel exchanges between the two places, and helping to open up the financial sector at a high level, and further consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong's status as an international financial center.

Question: Compared with traditional cross-border remittances, what are the advantages of cross-border payment with Hong Kong?

Answer: Compared with traditional cross-border remittances, the cross-border payment channel with Hong Kong effectively shortens the cross-border remittance link, improves the efficiency of cross-border remittances, and technically supports participating institutions to provide users with better cross-border remittance services: First, it supports users to initiate cross-border remittances of RMB and HKD between the mainland and Hong Kong online through the mobile banking, online banking and other channels of participating institutions, relying on mobile phone numbers, bank accounts, etc.; second, it supports convenient remittances within a certain amount under the current account to be received in real time; third, the relevant payment infrastructure is directly connected to reduce the intermediate links and reduce the cost of cross-border remittances.

Question: What business scenarios does the cross-border payment channel with Hong Kong support?

Answer: The cross-border payment channel with Hong Kong adheres to the small-amount convenience positioning and supports participating institutions to handle cross-border remittances under the current account for residents of the two places. On the premise of doing a good job of internal management and risk prevention and control as required, the participating institutions of the two places can handle convenient remittances within a certain amount for local residents through the cross-border payment channel. Residents do not need to submit business background information when handling convenient remittances. At present, the southbound convenient remittance business supports domestic residents holding Chinese resident identity cards, military identity cards and armed police identity cards to remit from the accounts of participating banks in the mainland to the accounts of participating institutions in Hong Kong, and the northbound convenient remittance business supports Hong Kong residents holding Hong Kong identity cards to remit from the accounts of participating institutions in Hong Kong to the accounts of participating banks in the mainland. The cross-border payment channel also supports participating institutions to provide two-way convenient and beneficial financial services such as payment of overseas study fees, medical fees, salary and subsidy payment. Participating institutions can reasonably determine the single or cumulative transaction limits of various businesses from the perspective of risk prevention and control based on the types of market transaction entities, transaction characteristics, business scenarios, etc.

The first batch of mainland institutions participating in the cross-border payment channel include: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and China Merchants Bank; Hong Kong institutions include: Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, China Construction Bank (Asia), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, and ICBC (Asia), and the scope of participation will be gradually expanded in the future. For details on the remittance services and products available, please inquire with each participating institution.

Q: What regulations and requirements should be followed when conducting cross-border payment channel related businesses?

A: In order to prevent the potential risks of being used for money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, mainland participating institutions handling cross-border payment channel related businesses should comply with the relevant business management regulations for cross-border funds settlement, perform anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and non-proliferation financing compliance requirements in accordance with the law, establish and improve the risk monitoring mechanism for cross-border payment channel remittance business, improve risk prevention capabilities, strengthen monitoring of suspicious transactions, and ensure the smooth and orderly development of business.