Hong Kong online banking users may be able to collect the HK$10,000 (US$1,280) cash handout for each adult permanent resident proposed in the 2020-21 Budget faster than those using regular bank accounts, a government official said on Friday.
Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung told a radio show payment of the handouts would proceed through the Faster Payment System – a platform launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2018 that allows users to make cross-bank payments with a swipe of their mobile phones.
Yang said the government would set up an inter-departmental team to execute the cash handout plan to accelerate the process without making mistakes.
The government will deploy e-banking technology to make cash handouts more efficient compared with 2011, when it gave out a HK$6,000 cash handout to eligible residents.
Yang also said that there had been a misunderstanding that online technologies are free to use. But he said users need to provide privacy information and watch advertisements to obtain the cash handouts.
He said the government would spare no efforts in preventing any breaches of the online system and protecting residents’ personal information.
Operated by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Ltd, the FPS allows individuals and businesses to transfer payments via banks in Hong Kong dollars and renminbi around the clock.
The FPS has received more than 4.2 million individual and corporate registrations by the end of January, data from HKICL shows.
To help fight the novel coronavirus, the SAR government set up a HK$30 billion Anti-epidemic Fund last week. Some HK$2.3 billion from the fund will be used will support businesses to develop production lines to make face masks in Hong Kong.
Yang said Hong Kong Productivity Council would assist businesses to become more efficient and to adopt new technology. He noted that people around the world are suffering from a shortage of masks. Therefore, it was important that Hong Kong had its own production lines to make face masks.
