Hong Kong elders living in Guangdong province can now have their Hong Kong-dollar social welfare payments deposited directly into their bank accounts on the Chinese mainland, making cross-boundary retirement life more convenient.

The new service, launched on Monday, is provided by the Guangdong branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to ease the difficulties the elderly face in obtaining their subsidies across the boundary.

In the past, social welfare allowances offered by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, such as the comprehensive social security assistance for the elderly, the old age allowance and the old age living allowance, could only be deposited into recipients’ Hong Kong bank accounts.

To use them on the mainland, they had to withdraw the cash there or make cross-boundary transfers that would incur significant fees. Many elderly people thus had to return to Hong Kong frequently to withdraw the money, causing them a lot of inconvenience.

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According to data released by the SAR’s Legislative Council last year, the number of senior Hong Kong aged 65 and above, who frequently stayed in Guangdong, had surged by 40.5 percent in the past decade, having hit a record high of 99,600 by mid-2024. The figure accounts for about six percent of the city’s 1.7 million elderly population.

As of Monday, these allowances can be disbursed directly into Class I accounts of Hong Kong seniors at  branches of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China in Guangdong.

After having registered their mainland bank accounts with Hong Kong’s Social Welfare Department or its designated agencies in Guangdong, their monthly allowances will be automatically deposited into the accounts.  

This way, cross-boundary transfer fees will be waived. It is expected to save each Hong Kong senior resident thousands of Hong Kong dollars in transaction costs annually.

Contact the writer at bingcun@chinadailyhk.com